Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are calling on Americans with a passion for limited government and a willingness to work long hours for no pay to join the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E). In an unconventional job announcement posted on X, Musk invited “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” to apply for positions in the department that promises to take on the vast bureaucracy in Washington.
The post from the official Doge account read: “We don’t need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.” The message made it clear that this isn’t a typical government job, but rather a gruelling commitment aimed at reforming federal operations. The recruitment drive was topped off with a twist of Musk’s humour: “Compensation is zero.”
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants,” the statement continued.
Musk himself responded to the post, adding, “Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero. What a great deal!” He went on to describe the task at hand: dismantling layers of federal bureaucracy and reducing government spending by an ambitious $2 trillion, while cautioning that such a project would “necessarily involve some temporary hardship.”
President-elect Donald Trump recently announced Musk and Ramaswamy’s appointments to D.O.G.E, dubbing the department as the “Manhattan Project of our time.” Trump praised their roles in his administration’s agenda to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies” – all under the “Save America” movement.
The D.O.G.E department, which borrows its name from the internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu, is not an official federal agency, but rather an advisory group aiming to reshape government functions through private sector influence.
Musk, a vocal supporter of Trump, became one of his key allies throughout the campaign, promoting Trump’s message on X and donating $120 million to his campaign. Following Trump’s re-election, Musk posted an edited image of himself with a sink in the Oval Office, a nod to his 2022 entry into Twitter’s headquarters after his $44 billion acquisition. Despite Musk’s publicity stunts, the platform—now known as X—has seen its value plummet by nearly 80%, according to a recent Fidelity estimate.