Elon Musk is taking DOGE applications – but is it a job, will it pay?

• Elon Musk’s The Department of Government Efficiency is looking for people who would like to join this effort.
• Musk posted that the compensation is “zero.” So is this a real vacancy?
• DOGE did not answer questions about payment, or whether you need an X account to sign up.

The new quasi-department Elon Musk creates money to eradicate wasteful government spending has caused quite a stir – but how exactly does someone apply for a job there? And is it actually paid work?

So far it is not completely clear.

At this point, what we know a potential position at the government’s new unofficial Ministry of Efficiency comes from a message up newly created X account. The post states that DOGE – named after a cryptocurrency linked to Musk – is looking for the “Top 1%” of applicants who must have a “super high IQ” and be willing to work more than 80 hours a week.

It is unclear whether the demanding role will come with a salary.

In response to a user’s post, Musk wrote about X: “Indeed, this will be tedious work, make a lot of enemies and the compensation is zero. What a great deal!” He ended the comment with a crying and laughing emoji, making it unclear if he was joking about the no-compensation part.

Musk did not respond to an email from BI, and the DOGE account did not respond to a direct message. The Trump transition team also did not respond to an email seeking more details.

Earlier this week, Trump transition team spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement to BI: “As President Trump has said, Elon Musk is a genius, an innovator, and has literally made history by creating creative, modern, and efficient systems. build. .”

Representatives for Vivek Ramaswamy, who was tapped by incoming President Trump to co-lead DOGE with Musk, also did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the other questions about the potential vacancy is how someone should apply. DOGE’s post on

But as a number by X users be out, the department’s DMs were apparently initially inaccessible to users who did not have a paid X subscription. The account’s DMs were open to any X user as of Friday afternoon – and BI was able to successfully message the account without a paid subscription.

Still, a job seeker would need to have an X account – even if it’s just a free account – to be able to send a direct message to DOGE. This means that if someone does not yet have an account on the platform that Musk ownsthe person would – from now on at least – have to start one in order to apply for the role.

It’s not clear if there will be an official DOGE website with a more traditional sign-up process.