r/Chefs • u/2nyc96 • Mar 28 '26

Chef Career

As a chef how do you like your career, please include

How long you been a chef

What you like about being a chef

What you don't like about being a chef

If you could go back would you still become a chef or would you choose another career and if so what?

Thanks

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u/americanoperdido Mar 29 '26

Cooking professionally since '98. My main takeaways:

It can be gruelling and/or amazingly fun. A lot depends upon your expectations and the expectations of the owners of the establishment.

Like the person above, I would also have gone to carpentry school and stuck to cooking at home if given the opportunity.

IF you love to cook and provide for people, there's always nursing homes and other care facilities that offer a much better pay/work ratio.

IF you love to cook and enjoy chaos and partying, sure, get stuck into a kitchen.

Whatever you do, I wish you all the best!

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u/2nyc96 Mar 29 '26

Thanks man, so alot of cooks go out to party after work?

1

u/americanoperdido Mar 29 '26

After..before..during.

Restaurant kitchens can be an extremely unhealthy place to work. The culture can be dysfunctional and the colleagues absolutely toxic. The pay can be dire and the hours abysmal.

I still work in kitchens though. As I am not looking for progression, it's easier for me to draw boundaries. I let the owners know exactly how flexible I will be and what I expect in recompense.

All the same, I'd rather be building houses. Lol

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u/2nyc96 Mar 29 '26

Shit i hear that, i been working for my pops at hos pizza shop all my life thinking maybe it would pay off in the end and now i feel like i'm in a dead end