Akash Bobba and Nikhil Rajpal: The Indian techies driving Elon Musk’s DOGE project

Donald Trump, the former U.S. President, announced the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an intriguingly named institution under the direction of Elon Musk. DOGE has made headlines with its secretive operations, notably concerning its 40-member team, which notably includes two Indian-origin engineers, Akash Bobba and Nikhil Rajpal.

Akash Bobba, a 22-year-old graduate of the Management, Entrepreneurship, and Technology program at the University of California, Berkeley, has an eclectic resume despite lacking direct experience in government work. His background includes internships with industry giants like Meta and Palantir, as well as experience at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. Bobba is skilled in data analytics, AI, and financial modeling. Highlighting his capabilities, a former classmate, Charis Zhang, shared an incident where Bobba successfully rewrote an entire project codebase, leading their team to top their class.

Nikhil Rajpal, who prefers to go by Nik, is approximately 30 years old. He has a dual background in Computer Science and History, both from UC Berkeley. Rajpal's professional experiences include working at Twitter prior to Elon Musk's acquisition and contributing to Tesla's console redesign. He previously led a libertarian student group promoting principles like minimal government and maximum individual liberty.

Within DOGE, Rajpal has been tasked with responsibilities at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). On the directive of acting Commerce Secretary Jeremy Pelter, he has been granted editor access to NOAA's Google sites.

The appointment and tasks assigned to these tech-savvy individuals reflect DOGE's unconventional approach, driven by Musk's vision of technological and governmental innovation.