Forced to work for 140 hours a week due to financial constraints: Soham Parekh

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) Indian software engineer Soham Parekh, currently in the eye of the storm for moonlighting for multiple Silicon Valley startups, has defended himself by saying that he was forced to work for 140 hours a week due to financial constraints.

Appearing on a YouTube channel, Parekh admitted moonlighting. However, he defended himself saying that he is “not proud” but “extremely dire financial circumstances” forced him to take multiple jobs at the same time.

He also confessed to misleading employers about his location and employment status.

“I’m not proud of what I’ve done. That’s not something I endorse, either. But financial circumstances. No one really likes to work 140 hours a week, but I had to do it out of necessity. I was in extremely dire financial circumstances,” said Parekh, in an interview with the TBPN YouTube channel.

“I'm not a very people person. I don't share much about what's going on with my life or my internal thought processes. I was getting more stressed, thinking, hey, I want to get out of this situation. What should I do? So it wasn't really about outreach, but necessity. I thought that if I worked multiple places, I could help myself elevate the situation I was in much faster,” he added.

The controversy began after Suhail Doshi, co-founder of Playground A and Mixpanel, alleged on social media platform X that Parekh had been “preying on YC companies” and that most of the work showcased on his resume was fake.

Since then, several startup founders have claimed that Parekh impressed during interviews but failed to meet expectations after being hired.

Parekh also clarified that he had not used artificial intelligence tools to perform his duties. He stated that he began balancing multiple jobs in 2022 -- well before AI tools like GitHub Copilot became mainstream.

Meanwhile, Parekh has reportedly found a job at an AI startup Darwin Studios as a founding engineer; and noted that he will not moonlight this time.

“I am really excited about what I am going to be a part of next. You know, working with a company called Darwin. I think you know, they have put a bet on me, and I have a lot to prove,” Parekh said.

In a statement, Darwin’s founder and CEO, Sanjit Juneja expressed confidence in Parekh’s skills.

“Soham is an incredibly talented engineer, and we believe in his abilities to help bring our products to market,” the statement said.

--IANS

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