Tuesday, September 08, 2009

PhD scholar turned cabbie in Singapore

Article from DNA India by Venkatesan Vembu.

China born Cai Mingjie lost his job last year with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Now he drives a taxi, paying SGD77 (USD 53.55) a day rent for the car. He makes on average SGD 30-50 (USD21-35) a day after working 12 to 15 hours.
Many people might see a transition from professor to taxi driver as "moving down" in life, "but I look at it differently", he says. "I feel happier as a taxi driver than in my last two years as a professor. I often felt sorry for myself for having to work in that environment [at A*STAR, where he says he had to deal with "domineering, manipulation, incompetence" -- and politics]."

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