Billionaire X owner Elon Musk, who has vowed to eliminate wastefulness in the government as co-chair — with Vivek Ramaswamy — of the incoming Trump administration’s fledgling agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), posted a job listing on X on Wednesday looking for a software engineer — no school background required.
Musk wrote: “If you’re a hardcore software engineer and want to build the everything app, please join us by sending your best work to code@x.com. We don’t care where you went to school or even whether you went to school or what ‘big name’ company you worked at. Just show us your code.”
If you’re a hardcore software engineer and want to build the everything app, please join us by sending your best work to code@x.com.
We don’t care where you went to school or even whether you went to school or what “big name” company you worked at.
Just show us your code.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2025
Some of the millions of X users who saw the post expressed frustration at the vagueness of the post, with one replying to Musk: “What coding skills are you specifically looking for? How can people learn to skill up towards the coding proficiency you’re looking for?”
What coding skills are you specifically looking for?
How can people learn to skill up towards the coding proficiency you’re looking for?
Perhaps there could be an X coding protocol website that acts as a check list or training/tutorial hub on how to get on track for an X…
— Americans First (@AmericansFirstX) January 15, 2025
The same X user suggested: “Perhaps there could be an X coding protocol website that acts as a check list or training/tutorial hub on how to get on track for an X coding opportunity. You may not have a ton of qualified applicants today, but you can help people understand what they need to do to be ready in 18-24 months for a career with X. The industry needs a much cleaner and accessible pipeline.”
Musk, who has become increasingly political — and controversial — also heard from software engineers who won’t consider a job at X due to comments Musk has made about the Muslim community.
As one replied: “I was so excited to finally apply a while back then you made it very uncomfortable with the complete lies and slander you post about Islam. It’s a shame, honestly. You and your employees make it impossible to work there as a Muslim.”
Last week, Scotland’s former first minister Humza Yousaf accused Musk of trying to inflame racial tensions after he posted about the horrific racial killing of a white Glasgow schoolboy, Kriss Donald, by a group of Scottish Asian youths. Yousaf told BBC Scotland News that Musk had amplified the murder because he “seems to highlight cases that involve only people of colour or Muslims.”