It takes a lot of hard work, patience, practice and skill to become a chef. If you are interested in becoming a chef, my advice to you is to get started as early as you can. The earlier you start the faster you will be on your way to becoming a chef or perhaps even become a chef executive. As in any profession, when you first start out you will be at the bottom of the totem pole and must work your way up.
The first thing you will want to do is to start working at a restaurant as soon as possible. This goes for adults as well as teenagers in high school. You will need to know your way around the kitchen if you are going to be a chef someday. Your restaurant job does not have to be cooking just as long as you are working in the kitchen.
You need to watch how a kitchen operates and grasp what it is like to work in food service. It is also good to see if you can stay on your feet for the long hours that restaurant work demands. As a chef you will always be on your feet so you might as well get started early.
After you obtain a job in a restaurant, your next step should be searching around your immediate area for any chef training programs that are available. You will want to research to see where these places are and what training they offer. You will need education to prepare yourself for chef jobs. Going to school to learn how to become a chef can take up to four years. However, you will need every bit of it if you want to land one of the better chef jobs.
Whether it is during your schooling or after you have graduated, you will need as much hands on experience in the kitchen as possible. It will take some years of experience of working in a kitchen and working as a chef. If you do an apprenticeship, you will not automatically start your job as a chef. In fact you will most likely be doing everything but. You will have to learn the kitchen inside and out.
You will need the proper credentials to get chef jobs: the right education, the right hands on experience and training and the right attitude, even more so if you wish to become a chef executive.
There are many options available to you in terms of chef jobs. There are pastry chefs, line chefs, sous chefs, head chefs, personal chefs, chef executives and many other positions you could work in as a chef.
The education and training you need depend on the field you choose to go into. Different types of chef not only have different functions, but also different pay scales. You will also have to figure out for yourself which sort of chef jobs you want and what sort of chef you want to become.
There are many chef jobs available out there and that is why becoming a chef is a good career choice. People will always need to be fed, so there will always be chef jobs around. They might not be in the pay scale you desire to have though, so for higher paying chef jobs, you may have to search harder. You might even be able to work your way up to being a chef executive.
Becoming a chef can be a very rewarding career especially if you are skilled at it. Nevertheless, if you are not, hands on experience, training and culinary education will turn you into a great chef.
