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According to all reputable employment market experts the demand for experienced specialists in the culinary arts industry is permanently increasing. The professional specialization of a chef is one of the most widely represented in this segment. People who are not professionally connected with cooking industry usually have one rather common and widely spread idea of what an average chef looks like. When they hear the word "chef", there is an image of a person clad in white and with a big chef's cap on the head that comes to mind. The most common association with this word happens to be with French cooking art and fine dining restaurants, in which chefs conjure out exquisite dishes. Yes, that is right, such is the image of a chef that commonly comes to mind of an average person in the predominating number of cases. At the same time there is no denial that quite significant degree of respect for professional excellence is also associated with this term. And the career of a chef (which implies a hefty number of specific specializations within the general category) does happen to be most popular within the industry of cooking arts. As it was discovered by several specialized surveys, the predominating majority of students who take up a degree in culinary arts training program express their wish to pursue a career as a chef, declining other available options. Since the popularity of culinary arts demonstrates constant growth the number of culinary and cooking training programs and schools all over the world demonstrates noticeable increase too. The prospects for future employment demand in this segment are also very good, and this fact just adds to the chef’s professional popularity increase. The numerous chef jobs are sprouting from year and year considerably. - Any Prospective Chef Should Realize from the Very Beginning: Chef Jobs are Only Available to People with Chef Degree and Culinary Talent A lot of people are great enthusiasts of cooking, so called cooking hobbyists. Many of them have a naturally-born culinary talent, though not all of them, of course. Such people do cooking just for the fun they get from it, just for the pleasure to prepare a delicious dish for their friends or family. Though many of them are very talented and experienced persons, they do not have any wish to make their hobby into profession, into something they would win their daily bread with. The reasons for this are various. Some of culinary hobbyists are already busy working professionals and they do not plan to change the segment of their specializations, going into professional cooking and becoming chefs. Others have pretty good understanding of how hard the chef’s job can get, so they are quite content with indulging into cooking hobby once in a while – it is just a pastime for them, and they are quite happy if it stays this way. So, the professional chef training degree programs are not recommended for hobbyists. The training is harsh and rigorous, since such degree programs were developed with professional chef attitude in mind. On the other hand, a lot of hobbyists – oriented courses and classes have sprouted recently, seeing the considerable demand in exactly this kind of training. Many of them are organized with community facilities. At the same time online culinary and cooking programs for hobby-oriented enthusiasts are enjoying great popularity nowadays. Many of them are run by very prominent persons with extensive professional background of famous chefs, so such cooking classes are a great source of practical knowledge and skills for people who are enthusiastic about various aspects of cooking arts. For instance, in many cooking schools and even at actual operating restaurants chefs offer individual classes for individuals and groups of interested persons. Such classes are in fact very well prepared and very well performed shows, in which persons can get actual first-hand experience of cooking some kind of dish, from the very beginning to the very end! Individual cooking lessons are gaining in popularity noticeably. As far as a professional training of a chef is concerned you should realize as early as possible that besides the naturally inborn talent and true passion for cooking you should be prepared to work very hard in order to get professional skills. Besides, professional chefs are people who are required to work really hard, very often on weekends and holidays. A truly successful chef is one percent point of genius and 99 percent points of sweat. And any aspiring cooking arts student needs to be prepared for demanding and difficult training, since it is not easy, however, to become a true professional chef. The success will depend on lots of hard work, training and study. The path to becoming a successful chef leads though exhausting work. Even after the successful graduation you will need to start at the very bottom and gradually work you way to the top of the cooking industry hierarchy ladder. The most important thing in starting-up a successful culinary career as a chef is choosing the right school. The chef training programs differ in length and complexity of their curriculum. For simple certificate you will have to spend about 8-10 month of training. Many successful chefs started with the certificate level and stayed at it, perfectly satisfied. Others preferred to move further to an associate’s or bachelor’s degrees. That will require additional two and four years. With each level the training becomes more difficult to manage. Bachelor’s degree would be perfect for people with managerial inclinations, since the program includes lots of things related to running a successful restaurant business. Do not spare your free time and do some internet online research, looking for a suitable school. It should be preferably a program of some prominence and repute in the industry. And it should be accredited with pertinent authorities – that is a “must”. Choice of the culinary program for becoming a professional chef is a long-time investment into your career, so treat it with the utmost care and thoughtfulness. If the choice that you made was right then the success will totally depend on your talent and devotions. chef degree
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