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. Here is everything in order.”
He began by joining IIT Bombay to study mechanical engineering after securing an All India Rank of 1296. 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.
Soham said he asked Reddit for help with money for a domain and hosting, eventually taking four to five calls before one person invested in his idea. The product crossed 700 downloads and had 60 daily active users, but he eventually shut it down after six months.
During placement season, 18 students received interviews with Stripe, including Soham, who was the only mechanical engineering student among them. He cleared three rounds but did not make it through the final one.
He later received an offer from Chronicle, which he described as his “dream role”. He joined the company in January 2026 during his final semester and was earning $2,000 a month. However, a few months later, things changed.
“In June 2026, team went from 20 to 4. I was not one of the 4,” he wrote.
From unemployment to building products
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.
Instead of waiting for another job, he decided to start building again.
“So I started shipping instead. 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. Despite having three products live, he summed up his current situation simply: “Unemployed.”
Take a look:
Internet reacts
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.
A third person said, “What a journey at 21. Keep building, this is just the beginning.”
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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.
“Crazy journey bro, keep growing,” another user commented.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)