A PhD scholar from Stanford University who drives a taxi after he lost his job at a Singapore research institution has become a star of sorts after he began blogging about his “uniquely Singapore” experiences.

Cai Mingjie, who was born in China and got his PhD in biochemistry from Stanford, lost his job in May 2008 at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), where he had worked for 16 years as principal investigator.

“I tried hard to find a job, submitted countless CVs and application letters to places in Singapore, including universities, government agencies and private companies,” recalls Cai. Most of them, however, never responded, and even the few responses he got did not translate into jobs. When the global recession hit Singapore, it extinguished hopes of finding employment.

“I was forced into a difficult position,” recalls Cai. “Being jobless at my age is perhaps the worst nightmare that can happen to any ordinary man.” So, in November 2008, he decided to become a taxi driver — as the taxi business is probably the only one in Singapore that recruits people, even at a time like this.

After securing a taxi driver’s licence, he took to the road earlier this year, paying S$77 a day as rental for a four-year-old run-down Toyoto Crown from the SMRT cab company. After accounting for fuel expenses, he takes home on average S$30-50 a day after working 12 to 15 hours.

That isn’t a lot of money, he concedes, but he feels happy, he says, particularly as the working environment at A*STAR had been vitiated by “domineering, manipulation, incompetence” — and politics.

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.”

Alongside his new career, Cai started blogging about his experiences of ferrying passengers around Singapore, and has acquired a huge fan following — and even offers of employment!