Ex-DOGE engineer says federal abuse was ‘relatively nonexistent’

Software developer Sahil Lavingia, who worked briefly for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claims that abuse within the federal government was “relatively nonexistent” during his 55-day stint at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Lavingia founded digital marketplace Gumroad and previously worked as Pinterest’s second hire. He joined DOGE on March 17 as an unpaid contractor supporting the VA after a friend facilitated contact with the organization. The tech entrepreneur had previously applied to the U.S. Digital Service around 2015, hoping to apply his programming expertise in government.

In a recent interview with NPR, he said it would be hard to find “a better way to have a larger impact as someone who writes code every day” than federal employment, adding that he did not care which administration he worked for.

Lavingia disputed DOGE’s fundamental assertions about widespread government waste. He told NPR that the federal government was not “rife with waste, fraud and abuse,” saying he was “pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was.” While acknowledging waste exists, he characterized fraud as minimal and said abuse appeared “relatively nonexistent.”

He was fired after talking about Gumroad’s open-source transition — during which he discussed his DOGE experience — in an interview published on Fast Company. He said his access was revoked on May 9 without notification and that he only learned of his dismissal through an email stating his credentials were invalid.