A 21-year-old IIT Bombay graduate has shared his rollercoaster career journey, from internships and building his own startup to landing a dream job and losing it months later. After sending more than 200 cold emails and appearing for over 10 interviews, he decided to stop waiting for a job and start building products instead.
Sharing his journey on X, Soham wrote, “I’m 21 and just graduated. After losing his job, Soham said he sent more than 200 cold emails to YC founders and appeared for over 10 interviews, but was still looking for work. 6 products in one month. First $50 from a 2 hour build,” he wrote. He also said his X following grew from zero to more than 4,000 followers. A third person said, “What a journey at 21.
Here is everything in order. Instead of waiting for another job, he decided to start building again. “So I started shipping instead. Despite having three products live, he summed up his current situation simply: “Unemployed. Take a look: His post prompted several people to praise his approach and ask about his journey. “Unemployed on paper. Building, shipping, earning, and growing in reality. That tells a much better story than a job title,” one person commented. “Great journey! Have one question: How do you generally distribute your product? I have a couple of ideas but distribution is what I have no idea of,” another user wrote. Keep building, this is just the beginning.” (Also Read: Jaipur kulfi vendor makes sugar-free kulfi for dogs: ‘How thoughtful’ )
He began by joining IIT Bombay to study mechanical engineering after securing an All India Rank of 1296. During placement season, 18 students received interviews with Stripe, including Soham, who was the only mechanical engineering student among them. He joined the company in January 2026 during his final semester and was earning $2,000 a month. “In June 2026, team went from 20 to 4. I was not one of the 4,” he wrote.
During college, he tutored two JEE students in physics and maths over two years and interned at Matiks. He later interned at Raven, a YC S22 company, before deciding to build something of his own. However, a few months later, things changed.
He cleared three rounds but did not make it through the final one. (Also Read: Bengaluru founder shares why she spent ₹ 1.5 lakh to make her first YouTube video: ‘It is a 20-minute video’ ) He later received an offer from Chronicle, which he described as his “dream role”.
Others asked Soham to share more about the products he was building, while some praised him for choosing the indie-developer path despite coming from IIT Bombay. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
“Crazy journey bro, keep growing,” another user commented. (Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media.
