Working as an Uber driver changed my life

Pierre Hana, 32, moved to Cairo from Alexandria three years ago, along with his wife and his son, who is now four years old. Here he tells of the reasons why he chose to move and why he started to work for Uber.

Pierre Hana was brought up in Alexandria, working his way through university to become an electronics and communications engineer, before going on to work as a survey engineer in the oil industry, stationed on the vast oil fields outside the city of his birth.

It seemed like the perfect start to his working life: he had a good job in one of the country’s most successful industries and was soon-to-be-married. After six good years though, the industry hit a blip. Oil prices plummeted and the industry seemed to be in trouble. With a wife and a young son to now support, the family decided to move to Cairo.

“It was a difficult choice to make,” he says. “We were leaving our old life behind for a new one – while that was exciting, it was also daunting. We had no idea what we would find.”

Cairo was kind to the Hana family at first. They rented a small flat to live in and Pierre quickly found work, first in the IT section of a construction company, then as an electromechanical engineer.

It was then that Pierre saw an advertisement for Uber. Attracted by a growing company and the chance to work flexible hours, it was a job he could combine with his existing employment without it imposing too much on the rest of his life.

“I qualified as an Uber driver-partner in October 2016,” he recalls. “It meant that I could work in my normal job during the day, and supplement our income with me working early in the morning or later in the evenings after work. Of course, it was hard for me to keep both jobs going, but they were very different with different challenges. In my day job, I was working inside, so, especially in summer, it was very hot. Then when I was driving for Uber, I had to deal with Cairo’s traffic which at times can be busy and difficult to negotiate. It was doable, but it was hard on the family too as I only really got to spend time with my wife and son on Fridays.”

Two months ago, Pierre decided to take the plunge and resigned his engineering job to work solely for Uber. “I like working for the company more than anything else. My hours are flexible. I don’t have to work every day if I don’t want to,” he explains. “Some weeks I can work one day on, then one day off… and on others, I can work every day if I choose. It allows me to work on my own turf and to better manage my time. I set my hours behind the wheel to suit myself and my family.”

Pierre says the best time to work for him as a driver, but also the best time for riders, is the early morning shift. “Between 5am and 8am is a great time as the roads are less busy and you can pick up a lot of fares,” he says. “The evenings are similar from 7pm to 3am. It allows me to see a lot of the city. And if I get the time, it allows me to make a stop at one of my favorite places, Carlos Café.”