Thinking of becoming a taxi driver, but worried people will look down on me

[jayshahid]

I'm a 32-year-old guy who's been struggling to get a proper career started in tech despite having degree in bsc and MSc in CS. Long story but will not discuss more details about my struggles

I'm considering becoming a taxi driver to earn money and become more independent, but I'm embarrassed about what people might think.

From what I've noticed, many taxi drivers seem to be older people or immigrants, including Pakistanis and Africans. I rarely see people I went to college with doing it.

Most of my former classmates, friends and acquaintances seem to have established careers by now. I feel awkward imagining them finding out I'm driving a taxi while they're working in professional jobs.

I know there's nothing wrong with honest work, but I can't help worrying about being judged.

At the same time, I don't want to spend years worrying about other people's opinions while struggling financially and waiting for the right opportunity to come along.

Should I go ahead and try taxi driving despite my fear of being looked down on by others?

Well will you be judged more for being a taxi driver or for being unemployed? It doesn't seem like the choice is there right now to have a graduate job.

It’s a job, which is what matters. Good for you for getting one.

Why would anyone be bothered? When I see statements like this they seem a little narcissistic, it;s a job if anyone has an issue it is their problem

It's a job, from which you can earn a living - and a perfectly normal, respectable one. It might not be your dream job, but what on earth is wrong with it in the meantime, until you can find something you prefer?

If anybody looks down on you for doing that as a job, they clearly aren't people whose opinions you need to care about in the slightest.

Its something people often ask so they can put you into a box. When I tell people I'm a retired academic and I now do private tutoring they immediately put me into the "highly educated middle class professor" box. Are you worried they will put you into the wrong box? Just say I'm self employed and I run a transport business. Most mini cab drivers are self employed. You can embellish your occupation however you like. You can also develop means to shutdown the personal and move the conversation on more generally.

My brother in law was a taxi driver. I despised him. Not because he was a taxi driver - nothing wrong with that - but because of the type of person he was and how he treated his wives and children, and women in general tbh.
I don't understand why you should be ashamed of being a taxi driver. It's quite a necessary job providing a service people need.

You need to grow a pair and get on with your life, like the rest of us.

But if you're always worrying what others think, your life will always be very stunted.

Yeah there was one the other week about someone being afraid of being judged for being a cleaner.

It really does seem a tad narcissistic.

Other people’s opinions are only going to matter to you if you secretly think they’re right, surely — that being a cab driver is an ‘inferior’ job, OK for African and Pakistani immigrants, but not for a British 32 year old with a postgraduate degree…?

Sometimes on here there's a thread that goes, "If you're in your 50s/60s what would you tell your younger self". One answer that comes up again and again is "Live your own life and don't let what other people think hold you back".

Do yourself a favour mate and learn that key thing at 32. You'll be true to yourself all your days and will never have to look back at 50 and think, "Why did I bother what all those people thought".

Assuming you are the same bloke who’s worried about parental pressure & trying to become independent, are you worried that your parents would disapprove?

Please don’t worry about it - I don’t drive and have had some great sociable chats with taxi drivers - I would just think of it as being a professional driver doing a good service for plenty who need the service. Sometimes needs must .

If you want a driving job you could become a bus/coach driver, patient transport service driver, supermarket delivery driver, or a taxi driver. They’ll be logistics jobs for NHS as well.

The difference I think with taxi driving is it’s more flexible, which may matter if he’s still hopeful of getting a job in his trained area. You can pick it up and drop it off or work just evenings or nights etc - hard to be as flexible in jobs with fixed hours and days- it’s one reason a lot of musicians also used to do a bit of cabbying between tours and gigs

I would absolutely looked down on anyone who would look down on someone for something like this.
Looking down on someone for doing an honest work? Surely not.

Well... I agree with everyone else not to give a monkey's what others think.

However I wouldn't put a lot of money into buying a taxi with driverless cars on the horizon - are you thinking of buying an expensive new car for this?

I think it's like so many jobs, where you get some really smart, admirable, personable people who do them, and also some obstinate, careless, thick-as-mince idiots who do them... but the fact that people from both groups happen to do the same job is completely irrelevant - as is the fact that both groups might happen to eat the same kinds of food, use the same shops, enjoy the same kind of music etc.

Why would you need an expensive new car for it? Most taxis are just ordinary cars, which can double as everyday personal/family cars when required - you just have to have them (and yourself) registered for private hire, meet the requirements and display the appropriate signage. You probably wouldn't want an ancient jalopy, but it would neither need to be brand new or a luxury make.

Once driverless cars come in - and especially when they become the norm (maybe with meatbag-controlled cars actually being outlawed), it's not just taxi drivers who are going to see immense changes. If, at any point, he wants to sell the car - whether he wants to stop using it as a taxi and doesn't need it personally, or if he sees that the wind is blowing against human-driven taxis - he can just take off the signs, de-register it with the council and then stick it on Autotrader as a normal used car for sale like anybody else.

As a side note, although fully driverless cars clearly are where the future eventually lies, they're still at the lengthy trial stage; and everything I've seen about them suggests that a licensed, competent driver will still need to be present and awake at all times for the long-term foreseeable. From what I understand, aeroplanes are far more advanced in the automated control stakes than cars are, yet even they require at least one human pilot to be present at all times, just in case.

It depends on what the OP already has - I know taxis are nearly always nicer than our car! My post was simply to say don't spend too much money on it.

Incidentally driverless taxis are already up and running in the US - it'll be interesting to see if/when they come in here.

Whyever would you think that people would look down on you as a taxi driver? Or why would you care if someone is that shallow? Many years ago, when he was in his mid 50s, my dad lost his job as a stockbroker. He knew he would never find a similar job again at his age, and he became a taxi driver for several years. No-one thought any differently about him.

If people look down on you for driving a taxi you do know some wretched people.
The car you will need is one that is nice ( if you want to have clients who expect a nice car and do personal driving), but economical with the fuel. Sit down and work out which models will do that.
If you join a rank make sure you never ever cheat a customer over a fare rate they expect you to charge. They will sack you.
Make sure you join a rank that gives you the work operates in a decent area. Hopeful there is one near you. Any customer who looks like they are going to puke they don’t get in.
Be aware of theft. Go and talk to some cabbies.
Be prepared to do unsocial hours if you want to earn good money.
You can make a good living from being a taxi driver. But you need to have your wits about you to do it well.

In my experience the foreign taxi drivers are mainly Uber. If you join a small local taxi firm there may be more English drivers. My FiL was a taxi driver after he left the Navy, his NDN was also a taxi driver. I never looked down on taxi drivers, it's a job.

A literal child picked me up a couple of weeks ago when I ordered an Uber. This child was driving a Tesla that he paid for with his Uber earnings.

I have no idea how many hours he has to work to earn enough for that but the only judgment he got from me was respect for his work ethic and money management skills.

Sadly, I am not eligible for a driving job with Uber. I checked. You have to have had a full UK licence for 12 months. I don't particularly want or need a Tesla, but I'd like a job that pays enough to buy one if I change my mind.

Taxi drivers are normally very hard working and willing to work antisocial hours - that’s hardly a negative judgement

being out of work for a long time I would judge negatively

My friend cleared £90k gross as a taxi driver in the north when he did it. He worked a lot of hours in fairness. I don’t look down on any jobs but if I was going to, driving a taxi wouldn’t be one of them.