Culinary school or just try and work my way up from dishwasher or prep cook or something?
If culinary school, would I be better of going to a proper four year school, getting a two year degree, or getting a one year certification then working up via experience?
Go get a trade education. Your romantic view of the culinary world will meet the harsh reality of under-the-table immigrant labor.
There's no depth to cooking. Go to school for something else.
I've heard it's very hard work, but I wanted to know if what would be the best way to go about it without having to waste huge sums of money.
Do you work in the industry? My local community college offers three tracks: baking and pastry, a brewing and fermentation, and a standard culinary arts program. All are two years long. I don't know of any technical colleges or trade schools nearby, but I'll look into it as well.
I already have a bachelors degree but the work I'm doing is extremely unfulfilling.
Join the Army, shoot brown people, claim disability bennies for the rest of your life.
it is a shitty career to get into, but if you are going to get into it at least have the ribbon so you can convince people it is skilled labor a little more effectively
Then would you suggest a full four years, or do you think a two year degree would be sufficient?
depends on what you want to do with it
if you want to cook go for 2, if you want to be in charge of a restaurant/dinning room then the 4 year might be worth consideration
don't listen to this fool
nobody in a kitchen actually respects culinary schools
get experience in a real kitchen
do both if your motivated enough
I figured I'd try and get a dishwashing or prep cook position while I do the degree, if I decide to do it
most people in a kitchen are not literate, so take that for what it is
being literate has nowt to do with working in a kitchen.
walking in with a chip on your shoulder from culinary school and the attitude that you are better than the people who have been holding shit down for years will do you no favors
it has to do with running a kitchen though, you know... the thing your boss does
>t. never worked in a kitchen
easier than making a point I suppose
if you want to learn to run a business go to business school, not culinary school, dumbfuck
there is no school you can go to that will turn you into a head chef
Work your way up. No chef or kitchen worth a shit gives a damn about culinary school. They'd rather have a guy that's willing to show up and just scrub dishes, then move up and learn prep their way, then prove he's worth a fuck, then go up to line and do it their way.
Restaurant biz is all about work-ethic. Chefs want a guy they can count on to do the shit jobs, and do it their way. Once you've learned that, it's transferable to literally any other restaurant job.
the extra time in a 4 year vs 2 year is business classes my little friend ;)
If you go to Culinary school get a management degree. The Culinary schools will just tell you to get a job in a restaurant anyway while going to school so that by the time you graduate you already have experience and they can inflate their graduate success rate. Breaking into a kitchen is tough most chefs will tell you start at a small low traffic mom and pop or a corporate restaurant before thinking you can handle the actual restaurant work.
Go get Serv Safe certified or some equivalent. Learn to make roux, learn to cut veg, learn basic plating, and learn the mother sauces and you'll save yourself thousands of dollars. The rest you can learn on the job.
Oh god, so much this. Recipes vary so much because people can't read to memorize them. It's so fucked up having people expect you to learn their "passed down" version of something when there is an actual recipe book available.
Thanks user, I think I'll do what you suggest. The degree I have already is business/ minor in finance.
I'll start applying for entry level positions (dishwashing or prep cook) once I end this current contract in August, and then take a couple classes towards a technical certificate at the local community college. Food safety and sanitiation and the like.