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Originally Posted by cartemj06  Hey guys my name is Mat, I have a question. My parents had high aspirations for me and I went off to college and graduated in may. I am 24 years old and I started a little late and had some financial trouble paying for school by myself. I recently broke all their dreams when I said I wanted to cook. They wanted me to go to law school. Mom has been really supportive, my stepfather has not. One day before class I decided to do a quick internet search and I found a culinary school that was in Pittsburgh PA. I made all the plans to go to school and I moved here on the intention of going to PCI. PCI is a le cordon Bleu culinary school and I was going to complete the diploma program and hope that I could break into food service. I went job hunting last week and into this week. I have come up against a problem. My student loan did not process as planned and now I am in a financial bind to find enough time and energy to pay my rent and bills as well as attend school. I know this is getting long and seems like a weird question but last week I sat down with a chef in a really nice place downtown that had been named in the top ten. He was looking for a grill cook and I basically was wasting his time because I am not qualified or experienced enough to work that line. I have four years of experience expediting and running, and I really thought that maybe he would be ready to move up his garde manger and fit me into that position... but no dice. During our conversation he seconded the opinions that I had heard elsewhere, that I should just bypass culinary school and find an entry level position and work my way up. Today I had an interview with a chef in an un-rated no stars kitchen he said that he is trying to take it to the next level and he needs better people to do it with, his current employees never plate the same dish twice and can't follow directions. He said he is looking for someone that he can train and teach to be his lead line cook, he recently fired his fry cook and his wife who is acting as his sous chef would much rather be doing pastries. Long story short I got the job and he wants to start me on the fryer next week and wants to train me to eventually move up to leading his line. remember that the only experience I have is expediting and helping out in the kitchen when I was needed. I saw two articles that he was featured in and places he worked about were in.
My real question to you guys is should I train under this guy and forget culinary school? I have no delusions that after 15 months and an externship that I will be a chef or that I will be in any position to run a kitchen. I mean basically I would get a diploma that said I have met the schools requirements which will likely get me hired into garde manger positions anyway right? Either way I am nervous as **** I have never worked a hot line before, my dream is to cook and to someday run a kitchen, it is all I want to do. If I mess up because I don't have the experience I am job hunting again. if he isn't the real deal then I didn't go to school because of some joker. if I go to school I could be spending money needlessly while missing a huge opportunity if this guy is for real.
Thanks for reading all of this, and I really look forward to any advice or opinions you guys could offer. |
As others have said, take the job. If you are in a financial hole now, you will be in one after you graduate. Actually, even further.
It's good that someone is willing to train you so take advantage of that. Work hard and after you pick up some experience, if your goal is to get into some of top 10 restaurants in the area you referred to in your post, then see if you can stage with them later on (6 months to a year from now).
It may not lead to full time work but you get your foot in the door, gain experience, and help a chef out with "free labor."
As someone who works at a culinary school, when you tell your admissions advisor your plan, they will try to guilt you into starting school and tell you how much you need the degree. Be polite but be firm and good luck.
*on a side note, can you create more paragraphs next time you type out a long post? I was winded after reading it.