Coolie gene sinkie quits software engineering to become hawker

[nabeifuckpap]

• 
  Skip to main

Sign in

Search the web

I traded software engineering for 17-hour work days as a prawn noodle hawker. It's lonely, hot, and somehow rewarding.​

Aditi Bharade
Thu, 27 November 2025 at 8:08 am SGT
4 min read

Alvin Tan decided to take a break from software development and started a prawn noodle stall.Aditi Bharade
More

• Alvin Tan started a prawn noodles side hustle while working as a software engineer.
• When his job contract ended, he decided to give full-time hawker life a proper shot.
• Being a hawker is hot, tiring, and lonely work, but he said there is a silver lining.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alvin Tan, a 29-year-old software engineer turned prawn noodle hawker from Singapore. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was seven years old, my dad used to drive a cab. He worked until midnight, pulling long hours. But sometimes, when he came home, he would take my mom and me out for supper, and it was always to get a bowl of Hokkien Mee, a prawn noodle dish popular in Singapore.

Advertisement

As I watched the old hawker couple fry up the noodles, I was always intrigued by how it was made, the smoke and drama of it.

Tan's Hokkien Mee, a prawn noodle dish popular in Singapore.Aditi Bharade
Becoming a hawker was not my first choice. I've held several software engineering positions, including a development role at an AI company. I also launched a startup with smart vending machines, which failed due to a lack of funding.

But during the pandemic, when I grew tired of remote work, I started experimenting with making Hokkien Mee. I started a small home-based side hustle selling the dish, but it was a small endeavor. On weekends, I'd sell maybe 20 plates daily.

It was after I ended my two-year contract as a software developer for a global tech company that I thought I could find another job, or maybe I could do something that I was actually interested in.

Going all in on hawker life​

Making Hokkien Mee is hot, tiring, and labor-intensive work.Aditi Bharade
Earlier this year, I got selected for Gastrobeats, a local mentorship program that aims to build up local food businesses. At the end of it, I set up my stall in the Gastrobeats weeklong event tent beside Singapore's upscale Marina Bay Sands hotel.

Advertisement

It was my first time cooking outside my house for a full week. Plucking the prawns and simmering 50 kilograms of prawn broth for seven hours under a hot, humid tent was hell.

But the experience gave me the confidence to start my first physical stall.

I opened Umami Bomb in July, setting it up in a small hawker center in Singapore's Geylang district.

Tan set up a hawker stall in Singapore's Geylang district.Aditi Bharade
My parents were supportive, but they had doubts about how long I could last. They said, "You have worked in air-conditioned spaces all your life. Can you actually handle the heat?"

They predicted that I would quit in three months.

Working 17-hour days behind the wok​

It's hot, tiring work standing behind the wok all day.Aditi Bharade
More than three months in now, I have a routine. I take the first bus to come to the stall and make the prawn broth at around six a.m. Then I start preparing for the lunch crowd, which starts at around noon and ends around 2 p.m.

Advertisement

After that, I go back home for a bit to rest, then come back around 5 p.m. for the dinner crowd. After dinner, I clean up the stall, and mostly end the day around 11 p.m.


The heat is something else. I want to be frying more plates, but it's so tiring. I have burn marks all over my hands from hot oil.

I've had to downgrade my lifestyle because my earnings are lower than when I was working a software job. I cut back on spending on food and mainly cook at home for myself.

I have way less time for my friends and family, and my social life has been affected because I work every day. If I decide to go on a holiday, I have to sacrifice my revenue.

Advertisement

It's lonely, and it's quite depressing.

The silver lining​

Tan said business is slowly but surely picking up.Aditi Bharade
Business is slowly picking up. When I first started, I'd maybe sell 20 plates a day, which was quite discouraging. Imagine spending the whole day preparing, only to sell 20 plates.

Now I'm selling about 50 to 60 plates daily. I haven't hit 100 plates yet. I'm waiting for that milestone.

It's also satisfying to see your business grow. The best part is having customers tell you your food is great. It makes me feel pride in my cooking to have people reassure me that I'm good at what I do.

And in the worst-case scenario, I have a backup plan.

I've given myself one year to feel successful. If things don't go well, I'll return to the corporate world.

Read the original article on Business Insider

• Terms and Privacy Policy
• Privacy dashboard
• About our ads

Explore related articles​

Explore related articles​

---

• Terms and Privacy Policy
• Privacy dashboard

© 2025 Yahoo. All rights reserved.

 

[batman1]

He has chosen the correct career path to be a hawker as IT job (pmet)should be reserved for CECA worker.555

 

[sbfuncle]

He is literally working hard for the landlord.
Geylang shop guess how much the rental?
I bet he will close shop within a year.

 

[Pinkieslut]

AMDKs quit corporate job become founder of new startup.

Sinkies quit corporate jobs become hawker, insurance agent, property agent, and scammers.

 

[Sikodolaukazzz]

It's ok lah
It is God's calling
So long as it is honest work

 

[winnipegjets]

He is literally working hard for the landlord.
Geylang shop guess how much the rental?
I bet he will close shop within a year.

One has to start somewhere. When you go out to makan, you are paying the loan off for the landloard too.

 

[laksaboy]

If you give interview time to the media, you are destined for failure. These younger hawkers keep falling for the trap. They believe it's 'free advertising'. They will find out the hard way.

 

[winnipegjets]

AMDKs quit corporate job become founder of new startup.

Sinkies quit corporate jobs become hawker, insurance agent, property agent, and scammers.

Hawker is an honourable pursuit. Can't say that for the other three categories. Add in wealth manager/financial adviser to the con-job category.

 

[A Singaporean]

Good luck. See u in 6 months grab driving me around.

 

[ftan42]

He manages to sell 50 to 60 plates of Fried Hokkien Mee daily, priced at $6 or $8 each.

 

[laksaboy]

He manages to sell 50 to 60 plates of Fried Hokkien Mee daily, priced at $6 or $8 each.

How much he earns after deductng rent and other business operating costs?

 

[Geneco]

Software engineering also kenna leeplaced by AI and more competition.

Next time robot also will fry Hokkien Mee and sell cheap cheap...

 

[Sustanon]

more and more of these sort of propaganda in an attempt to encourage more and more people into being a hawker or F&B related industries. Little did they know that current F&B profit margin is already razor thin until cannot thin liao (overly saturated) and if more people going into F&B, what kind of returns are you looking at? A return that is probably way way below the cost of capital.

Garhmen strongly encouraging people to go into F&B propaganda blasting 24/7 in such a manner, to me, they are at wits end.... they ran out of ways to create jobs in the economy except jobs that are considered Bullshit jobs that are meaningless..... ie: Huge xray scan machine like a toy in MRT stations for the senior citizens workers to play with (not factoring in the constant exposure to ionizing radiation though), inventing new laws and create new jobs around that law, etc... None of these jobs are productive to the economy and creates zero value... None...

 

[VanDick]

His stall is conveniently located in Geylang. So he can go call chicken after close shop to have a happy ending to a hectic day.

 

[k1976]

没办法的

 

[True Believer]

He is literally working hard for the landlord. Geylang shop guess how much the rental? I bet he will close shop within a year.

If you are a landlord who inherited the coffee shop or bought it on the cheap decades ago, then you have hit boomtown.

 

[sbfuncle]

One has to start somewhere. When you go out to makan, you are paying the loan off for the landloard too.

He had better use the money to try his luck in the casino. But if he wins he has to stop.
If he lose, nothing to lose becos he already lost it in the stall even before the gambling is started .

If he sells 60 bowls per day, he can only earn avg 3k with all the hard work.
It's simply not feasible to even start it.

 

[True Believer]

He had better use the money to try his luck in the casino. But if he wins he has to stop. If he lose, nothing to lose becos he already lost it in the stall even before the gambling is started . If he sells 60 bowls per day, he can only earn avg 3k with all the hard work. It's simply not feasible to even start it.

Those who have ever worked for a toxic boss will know that working for oneself (no matter how tough the work) may beat being bullied. I once longed for the weekend just to recover from the heavy workload and a bully I had to report to at a younger age. I had to drag my feet to the office every Monday.

 

[True Believer]

Several of my older colleagues (past and present) shared about how their bosses would start bullying them once they were in their late 50s and early 60s, to force them into early retirement. If they need the money, they would have to do menial work following retrenchment.

 

[sbfuncle]

Those who have ever worked for a toxic boss will know that working for oneself (no matter how tough the work) may beat being bullied. I once longed for the weekend just to recover from the heavy workload and a bully I had to report to at a younger age. I had to drag my feet to the office every Monday.

Only the weak gets bullied in the workplace.

I encountered several bosses that tried to bully me and kana hoot back jialat jialat one by me.

Leemember they are also an employee.
Unless they are the owner of the company, but I wouldn't want to work under such arrangement even if the boss didn't bully me.