I interviewed Soham Parekh — here’s what it was like
Topaz Labs Recruitment Manager Russell Pompeo shared three packages from a job interview.
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When a employer received a job application of the Famous Moonlight Sheriff of the Silicon Valley, he immediately received a job application two years ago.
This was two years before the Mumbai -based young engineer was subjected to remote work in several Silicon Valley attempt at the same time.
“I was looking at his resume, and his resume was so good that even CEO threw me ping and ‘Russ, this man looks great. Let’s talk to this man’, CNBC Make It.
Pompea said that Serekh sent his application on 2 June 2023 through the company’s career page for a software engineering position and decided to interview the young engineer with a telephone conversation on June 12th.
At that time, Serekh listed AI-Video Startup Synthesia and a less known AI company Bodo.ai as previous employers in his resume.
Pompea said that the combination of this company made her a really attractive candidate, so it was brainless to interview him.
Im I remember he was a very good communicator, Pom Pompea remembered without the first scan. “This was one of my first notes: ‘Soham is a great communicator.’ Last year I talked to 1,000 software engineers or something else.
However, during the interview, Pompea received several red flags that prevented Parekh from progressing to the next round.
“I think he learned some lessons from this interview, Pom Pompea said.
In an interview Technology show tbpn On Thursday, Perekh admitted that it was right to work for more than one initiative at the same time and that he was not proud of what he did.
“Nobody really likes working 140 hours a week, but I had to do it from the necessity.” He said. “I was in extremely terrible financial conditions.”
Topaz Labs did not confirm whether Parekh did not work in the firms mentioned in the resume because he did not progress to this stage of the scanning process.
‘Red Flags’
When Pompea tried to examine the details of Serekh’s experience in the interview, he found that he thought there was “three big problems” with his answers.
“Even if he was a relatively young man, he looked like an incredible profile, but later he missed real details in the products he built.” He said.
When Synthesia pressed her about her studies, it was uncertain. “People often hear a great command to the details.” He said.
“You almost don’t have to expel anyone because they can’t learn a new software language … People who are fired have problems of attitude, commitment problems.”
Russell Pompea
Recruitment Manager at Topaz Labs
Pompea also noticed that the dates between Serekh’s experience in Synthesia and Bodo.ai overlap, and could not make enough explanation for the reason.
“He told me that he was working full -time and there was a overlap during the notification … I wrote this, it’s a big red flag.” He said.
Parekh’s decision to leave the synthesis did not make sense to Pompea. The engineer claimed that the company had grown very quickly, and according to Pompea’s remembering, “pigeon thief” felt.
“Did you try to go to another team or another work? ‘ I asked, and he just swept the question … You don’t usually leave a super high -paid company because you are trying to find another job. [in the company] First.”
Topaz Labs requires employees to work on site in Dallas, Texas. According to Pompea, Serekh shone with details about whether he would move to Dallas and said he was in New York at the time.
More meticulous recruitment processes
At the beginning of July, two years after Pompea interviewed with the parechh, Suhail Doshi, the founder of Playground AI, to X Warn other initiatives “About the moonlight engineer he calls” Hunting in YC [Y Combinator] Companies and more. “
A few starters then came to the forefront to hire the Parekh, saying that they fired him after seeing Doshi’s post.
Starekh said that in 2022, it started moonlight in this way and that the challenging lifestyle means “non -sleepy”.
Despite his financial situation, he added that he was “care of these companies” and “greed is not an incentive”. He said that he has always received a lower wage and higher equity proposal in companies.
For Pompea, there was a relief that Topaz Labs did not hire the Parekh.
“I think I’m glad we’re not one of the companies that emerged, and I told him that we hired him and we had to fire him. I prefer to be someone who sees him.” He said. “However, I actually feel a little bad for most of these companies, because these are people working in good faith.”
Pompea said that people like Serekh make the job of an employment officer more difficult, but at the same time emphasizing the importance of strong scanning.
AI startups moving fast
As a recruitment manager, Pompea said that soft skills such as teamwork and cooperation are as important as technical skills and sometimes quick -moving initiatives ignore these human qualities.
“What did I discover [while] Topaz laboratories for two and a half years, but for many other similar companies to hire, they have not learned a new software language or learn a new framework or if you have some kind of technical problem, you do not need to fire no one, “he explained.
He continued: “In the end, the fired people have attitudes, commitment problems or job rate problems.”
He said that most of the AI initiatives implemented by Parekh to work is “moving at a speed of 1.000 miles per hour and he should make the products ready for launch within days. As a result, they can delay background controls until the candidate is hired.
“Some of these initiatives can hire you two days after you have made your last interview and ‘Hey, Thursday. Can you start Monday?’
Ultimately, Pompea said he would have a bright future in front of him if he cleansed the steamer movement. In fact, a series of initiatives employing engineers praised their technical skills even in the midst of the reaction to him.
“I feel bad for the child like a very smart child. I hope it changes and has a good career.”
Solem Parekh did not respond to CNBC.
