If you didn't know what the job was like, what did your "dream of cooking" consist of?

chefs and cooking professionals are criminally underpaid unless you are the top of the profession. its really sad considering the hard work and skill involved with good cooking.

so trade would definitely be the wiser choice if you intend to have a family.

>>7083991
Just cooking, I suppose. I enjoy making things for people and seeing them enjoy it. Cooking is also the only "art" form I'm decent at.

>>7083992
this

however, trade schools are shit. people reading resumes will literally THROW OUT YOUR RESUME if they see a trade school. either go to an actual college, or don't go at all.

>>7083992
This. Being a cook takes a lot of skill and a lot of hard work but chefs are paid EXTREMELY poorly. Like, to the point where the servers will make substantially more than you once tips are factored in. Unless you seriously can't imagine doing anything else and are OK with a near-poverty-tier life if you get to cook, or you literally don't have any other useful skills, don't become a cook.

>>7083977
Do you want to work in the best restuarants, at michelin star level? If so, you will probably have to put any ideas of a family on hold for the next 10 years. You will have to move to wherever the 'food capital' of your country is, find yourself a job, and be prepared to work hard and take a lot of shit for a long time.

If you look at the people who work in these kind of places, they are young. The idea of doing a few years culinary school, then working a few years to get some money behind you and some experience before trying to get to a michelin standard kitchen often isnt the way. If you look at the guys in the kitchens at the top restaurants, they start young. For example, Ramsay started at Marco Pierre White's in his early twenties, Marco started at Le Gavroche at 16, Ramsay's protege Marcus Wareing started at The Savoy at 18 and went to Le Gavroche at 22. Pierre Koffman moved to the UK at 22 years old to train.

Another option is to not work at that kind of standard. There are normally plenty of nice local restaurants that cook from fresh, where you would have artistic licence, where one day you could become head chef. Hours arent great, but better than michelin level, and you get treated a lot better. And of course you could probably learn enough to open your own place one day.

Finally, you could end up at somewhere like TGI or whatever you have where you are. Hours are still shit, but you have no freedom to do what you want. There's no passion in anything. The pay is shit. You will be working with idiots.

If you want to do either of the first two, then id say go for it. Otherwise, its not worth while.

>>7084065
is that true? you gotta go for apprentishships instead?

>>7084121
trade schools are universally regarded as shit, they give you a shit education and are barely regulated.

>learn any other trade

Don't be a tradesman until you've gotten a good look at the local job market for people in your trade.

You do NOT want to get into anything residential in Southern California, for example. Unless of course the idea of bidding low to chink real estate investors sounds good to you.

>>7083977
I would say get a restaurant job before getting into culinary. Im in both. Resturant jobs teach you "street smarts" per say while the culinary school will teach you basics and fundamentals. Wanna be a chef? you gotta know the sauces and chances are youre not gonna make all the leading sauces in just one restaurant unless youre a french place. Also id avoid chain culinary schools like Le Cordon Bleu or the other one, unless thats all you can do. CIA is like the only one i would think about going to. Look for a place with a culinary program, a local community college or something

>>7084014
try baking cakes then sissy. Cooking is the shittiest thing ever. You work in an oven making nothing good looking. You thought you were gonna make pretty dishes? No. You're making penne vodka with prepped penne and canned vodka sauce for $15/hr. You won't even have the privilege of putting a "handful" of mussels in really old butter for maybe 5 years.

Yes.

If you like doing drugs drinking being a crazy asshole and not giving a fuck than cooking is great.

If you love food and making new and creative things working with new techniques and tools it can be really hard. Those jobs where you can grow and be passionate are rare. Most people move around alot to keep that going as most places are interesting for a while but then don't evolve. I had 8 jobs in 3 years trying to learn new stuff.

It's a great way to make money if you are willing to put in long hours and work hard. Also you get paid to learn all the skills to be your own boss and open a truck, catering, restaurant.

You can have a family if you go the executive route but you are at a disadvantage. You start in hotels be agressive about climbing the ladder.

Best advice is attack the weak ones higher up the ladder than you. Ignore people in your wage range. Talk shit to your owner about everything that people do wrong and ask to implement your ideas. If you can reduce ticket times that is the most measurable metric of sucess they will see before menu planning. Consulting jobs are a great resume builder as well.

Good ticket times will get you a supervising chef job in a hotel (sous or head depending on size of operation) once you reach that level politely resign and say you want to try new things thank them and get a good reference stating what you accomplished. Now take that and turn it into a consulting chef job. Probably 3-6 months. Reduce ticket times. Offer a menu redesign. Simplify, lower cost, reduce workload. Get good reference and get out early if you can. (Always hood to leave At peak of sucess) get consulting job working menu, kitchen, bar, wait staff. Work all of it. Do this 3-4 times. And now you can get a 100000$ a year job at a hotel doing whatever you want.

This job is steady but may still require moving every few years. A family will tolerate this if you guys are solid in every other regard but I've seen it go south.

>>7085591
Tl dr get a different job. I gave up on it and do something less physically demanding now. My new job is more challenging intellectually and i create more interesting stuff in my swanky home kitchen than i ever did at work. Make more money too. Maybe skip a trade and go stem. I did carpentry for a while but it gets boring fast. Now am a botonist and run a nursery. (Get cool ingredients) and raise breese chickens.

>>7084133
Even the ones that are regulated are shit. Went into cul management after 3 years working and learned nothing that I didn't the first year working.

>>7083977
raising a family is a conciet that is destroying the planet. do not have children. adopt.

>>7085556
>You thought you were gonna make pretty dishes? No. You're making penne vodka with prepped penne and canned vodka sauce for $15/hr. You won't even have the privilege of putting a "handful" of mussels in really old butter for maybe 5 years.

Is this really the norm?

I just walked into my first kitchen job and it's incredibly hands-on. And no, it's not fast food tier shit

>>7086033
if its ur le family italiano ristorante than ya thats exactly wat it is

>>7083977
Do you want to be stuck doing something you hate doing?

Dreading going to work for the next 30-50 years?

I love cooking, but I want to open a restaurant so that I can cook, make killer food and also make good money at the same time. Whatever you choose, go at it with a self employed attitude and do great things.

I got into trades instead and now I'm self employed, make good money, hate my job.

>>7085634
*tips fedora*