Who is Akash Bobba? The 22-year-old Indian-origin prodigy joining Elon Musk's DOGE

Akash Bobba, a 22-year-old engineer, is part of Elon Musk's controversial Department of Government Efficiency.

Indian-origin engineer Akash Bobba now stands accused in the middle of increasing trouble surrounding Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Elon Musk's newly formed government agency has received criticism after employing six engineers between 19 and 24 years old who gained unrestricted access to classified government systems.

Akash Bobba, a 22-year-old Indian-origin engineer, is among six young recruits in Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.(X/Tarique Sha)

Who is Akash Bobba?

He excelled at the Management Entrepreneurship Technology (MET) program at UC Berkeley. His work experience at tech giants, including Meta and Palantir, alongside the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, let him learn about artificial intelligence and data analytics as well as financial modelling techniques.

“During a project at Berkeley, I accidentally deleted our entire codebase. I panicked. Akash just stared at the screen, shrugged, and rewrote everything from scratch in one night—better than before. We submitted early and got first in the class,” a former classmate, Charis Zhang, recalled on an X post thread.

Why is Musk hiring young engineers?

Bobba is just one of six young recruits in Musk’s ambitious overhaul of government efficiency. The rest of the DOGE team consists of a mix of recent college graduates, current students, and former SpaceX interns—each of whom now holds official government emails and top-level security clearances.

Reports indicate that at least four of the six new hires—including Bobba—have been granted top-level security clearance. However, none of these hires have prior experience in public service or government administration.

Following this, many warn that allowing individuals without a background in federal governance to access classified agencies like the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) could pose significant risks.

“You have individuals who are not career public officials gaining access to some of the most sensitive government data. Congress has no real ability to intervene or monitor what's happening,” Don Moynihan, professor at the University of Michigan, told WIRED.