PSA: Thinking you need a fancy cooking degree to get ahead is holding people back

Honestly, I keep hearing that a formal education is the only way to build a good career in food, but my path proves that wrong. I jumped into restaurant work straight out of high school with zero classes. My first job was prepping veggies at a busy cafe, and I just watched the chefs closely. Tbh, moving up to sous chef took years of messy mistakes and long shifts, not a diploma. I now help run a popular spot, and we often pass on applicants with degrees but no real kitchen grit. School can give you terms and recipes, but it doesn't teach you how to stay calm when tickets pile up. Ngl, some of the best cooks I know learned everything on the line. If you want a food career, start with any job in a place you respect and absorb every single thing.

3 comments

3 Comments

grantnelson18h ago

But seriously, is this even a real debate anymore? Degrees help some folks but, like @parker_jones50 hinted, they don't solve every problem life throws at you.

barnes.mary7d ago

Funny how that fancy degree never seems to cover how to fix a broken dishwasher during the dinner rush. All the book learning in the world goes quiet when you're three servers deep with wrong orders. Guess some lessons only come from the school of hard knocks and spilled grease.

parker_jones507d ago

Got a master's degree and still can't figure out my own washing machine. Book smarts don't mean much when you're knee-deep in real world messes, lol.

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