Less than 5% of Canada’s truckers are women. I’m one of them

Here at TLDR, we love hearing about how people are navigating the modern job force in surprising ways, and the huge AI buildout economy has juiced demand in obvious sectors like microchips, but also some unexpected ones like AC units and backhoes. Another surprise winner? Trucking. All that computing gear and construction material has to get on-site somehow, and there’s good money in driving it there (at least until AI replaces that, too). Long-haul truckers can pull six-figure incomes, which helps to explain how Samta Makkar, 33, wound up hitting the open road. She moved to Toronto from New Delhi, India, in 2016 to study computer technology, but in 2023, she pivoted to trucking. Here in her own words, she discusses the pros and cons of the job.

I had been doing IT for a couple of years, but I just felt like a corporate job was not right for me long-term. I had to do something else. So when two colleagues mentioned trucking, I looked into it. I didn’t tell my family, though — in India, you’re expected to be a doctor or an engineer, so I worried about what they’d say. 

It took me almost eight months to find a job after I got my trucking licence. Whenever someone heard a woman with no experience calling, they were like, “There is no job for you.” So I started walking into companies with my résumé and saying, “If you’re not going to give me this chance, then how am I ever going to get the experience?” Eventually, that worked, and I got hired. 

On the first trip, I was scared as hell. I’d never been to the U.S. before, and I didn’t know how to use my GPS. I ended up on a street with no exit except through a residential area. I was about to cry: if the police saw me, they’d give me a ticket. I considered calling my company and saying, “This is where the truck is. I’m taking a flight back!” Then a local driver saw me and stopped. “My sister, you’re doing good,” he said. He tried to help me reverse, but my truck was too big, so he guided me back through the residential street. Eventually, I got back on the main road. 

In the beginning, I didn’t realize how hard it is to find parking at night. Every gas station and truck stop was full. Some nights, I’d park on the highway shoulder near a rest area. I could feel the trucks passing and worried one would hit me. When I sleep in the cab and it doesn’t feel safe, I don’t get out at all. I strap the seat belt around the door and buckle it so nobody can open it. We also have to watch fuel, especially now. If it’s really hot at night, we can’t leave our truck idling, because it uses gas. And if it’s really cold, we have to be freezing in the truck. 

I’m on the road five or six days a week. I make Maggi noodles and omelets on the hot plate in my cab. Sometimes I cook rice or biryani. When I started, I wasn’t eating well, so I drank a lot of water. But that meant more bathroom stops, and washroom access is something women have to plan for. The job is hard: your sleep pattern is different, you can’t eat properly, you’re going through customs. But in my first year, other truckers would often tell me, “We are so proud to see a woman do this. You’re doing a great job.” That kept me going. After a year, I told my family what I was doing and they were so proud.

The best part of this job is the adventure. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. The worst part is the pay. You can easily make $100,000 in a good year, but I don’t think the money fully justifies the lifestyle. This is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. We’re risking our lives.

I don’t think trucking will ever be 100% autonomous. If anything, it’ll be like autopilot on an airplane. I might switch jobs one day — I already have my realtor’s licence — but I have no plans to leave transportation. I just love trucking. I’ve had conversations with truckers who have been in it for 25 or 30 years. They’re just like, “We love it. We have independence. We have freedom.” You can’t sit in an office and do that kind of work.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Written By

Marin Cogan

Marin Cogan is a freelance writer. She has previously written for New York Mag, GQ, ESPN, Vox, The New York Times, and other publications.