In yet another decision that has raised eyebrows, Elon Musk Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), on Monday recruited a team of six young engineers, some of whom are just out of college. 

The team, aged between 19 and 24, includes Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, Ethan Shaotran and Indian-origin engineer Akash Bobba.

Who is Akash Bobba?

Akash Bobba attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he was part of the Management, Entrepreneurship, and Technology (MET) programme, designed for future tech industry leaders, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn account.

As per his portfolio, the 22-year-old interned at Meta, Palantir, and the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, working in AI, data analytics, and financial modelling.

Concerns over sensitive data

Discussions on social media suddenly took over after the appointment of ‘kids’ in DOGE. A user recalled his experience of studying with him, and commented, “Let me tell you something about Akash. During a project at Berkeley, I accidentally deleted our entire codebase 2 days before the deadline. 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 viral post showed Bobba and his colleagues with the mocking caption, “Who are these little boys? And why are they in charge of our money?”

Don Moynihan, a University of Michigan professor, went a step further with ‘security risk’ accusations reportedly saying, “You have individuals who are not really public officials gaining access to some of the most sensitive govt data. Congress has no real ability to intervene or monitor what’'s happening.”