Would you choose to be an electrician or chef?

[18 and life's beginning]

I'm 18 and going home soon. I'm thinking of studying to become an electrician or chef. I'm pretty good at both - so my parents and friends tell me.

If you had the choice (and most of you are older than me and know more of the world) - which would you choose to study and make a living from?

Thanks (and wish me luck).

[Ines]

An electrician has regular work hours (more or less) while the chef has weird working hours. Depends entirely on what working hours you prefer.

[Electric Cooker]

Love Ines reply - great sense of humour.

First I think being a chef in a small restaurant would be fantastic. But in reality you are probably having to churn out 100s of meals a day in a hotel restaurant for large volumes of tourists.

Great skills to learn I should imagine. You will no doubt have to serve your time. I have spent many years in various well paid non food related jobs - I wish I had been a chef.

Of course being an electrician would pay OK, but how do you progress - Supervisor of electricians? What a thrill, "I managed to get their water heater working".

As a chef you are moving on all the time, you are giving people pleasure, maybe one day you will overhear a customer say "parfait!".

Watch The galloping gourmet (Kerr), Floyd, Hom, Oliver on TV. If you find being an electrician more interesting - go for it!

Then again you could be the "Galloping electician", thrilling your viewers with advice about how to change a fuse.

My vote - Be a chef.

[my turn]

well... if you want to travel, being a chef gives more opportunities ( big international hotels...) and if you are kinda artistic, it will come out much more being a chef than an electrician...
Now being an electrician has the big advantage ( to me) that you can be your own boss and have your own company... you can also specialize in all these alarms systems and homenetworking with the internet now that the future is our home is supposed to be like that.    
between the 2, I would rather an electrician but my reasons are certainly not valid to you : 1. I do not like food  2. i am not a team person except if I am in charge    

All the best, you are on the right track anyhow! we will always need chef and electrician  

[BostonEngineer]

Though I have not been to Singapore (but would like to, that is why I go to this website) I think I can give you some general info that will help.

Take a short class (non-credit is the best so the focus is on learning opposed to a grade) in both and see if you still like both.   I did this with Thai cooking and have developed an interest and had considered giving up engineering to become a chef.

The biggest reason, I haven't is though I like cooking a few dishes for friends/family; I haven't mastered the art of juggling cooking many, many dishes  at the same time.    See if you can do this by cooking for maybe a dozen people at the same time, a wide variety of dishes and trying to get them the food all around the same time.  

Regarding hours, I completely agree with Ines that an electrican would have more regular hours.  Well, if you still like both take this to your advantage.  Trying some catering on weekends/nights when it wouldn't conflict with being an electrican.

Both have the potential for good $, and job advancement depending on what you want.

here is a proposed progression
 Electrician -> shop foreman -> own electrician contract business
or after getting hands on experience with electricity, go back to school and maybe become electrical engineer

 Prep Chef -> Assistant Chef -> Executive chef/ food critic/ cooking instructor

So, there are a lot of great possiblities.
If I can help further let me know

[davidb]

This is a tough call.  You could be really passionate about being a chef but in my opinion you'd need to be really passionate to put up with the dreadful hours, hot kitchens and being rushed off your feet for hours on end.  When everyone is out partying you'll probably be working.
Then again I have trouble imagining real passion for being an electrician.  
My brother-in-law went from merchant banking to being a chef, eventually running is own small restaurant.  He was and still is really passionate but the hours are terrible and now with a young family he's giving it away to become a dietician with regular hours and time to relax.
Either choice could be really good for you but you have to decide what is really important to you.
I think some of the ideas to try both are great.  If you're really committed to looking into both options try and get some experience of the work - even work for free.  Spend some time as a kitchenhand in a commercial kitchen or working with an electrician to get first-hand insight into the realities of what you'd be doing.  Good luck!

[Hi There]

 I dont think being  a chef is all about sweating and toiling. My brother in law is a chef -  he did a degree in hotel management and catering technology and has built up a pretty decent career. Yes in the beginning he was toiling away  at all hours- but that is the service industry.  There are a  lot of jobs where you toil & sweat at all odd hours when others are partying- A doctor being one of them.
An electrician too has to sweat it out and there is a lot of potential there too.
If it was me making the choice - I would go with the chef. All the best to you.

[Sparky]

I'd go for being an electrician. You will always be in work, you can work for yourself and determine your own hours etc, you can be an entrepreneur and build anything from a small local co to a specialist international concern. When you are rich, then open a restaurant and watch your hardearned money disappear. It is VERY high risk opening your own place and personally I couldn't stand the conditions working for someone else as a chef.

[clay]

Hey now. I'm a Canadian chef currently living (but not yet working, due to red tape overload!)in Singapore. Here is my experience w/ cooking.

I love it! You will always be challenged, will learn something new every week, and will never go home hungry! You can travel anywhere (if they will give you an employment pass!) from big cities to small towns, and your job security is in tact as long as people continue eating!

On the other side of the coin, the hours can be poor, really poor, when your friends are not working, chances are you will be. The pay is not great by any stretch of the imagination, not until you reach the upper levels, and even then you wont be sipping champagne in your BMW. (mind you I haven't seen to many electritions doing that either?!) and the job is high paced and demanding, not for the type of person who can't handle stress well.

But at the end of a busy night, when you have just put out hundreds of plates of good, tasty food with 3-4 people you worked side by side through the whole experience; the open flames, the hot oil, the yelling, the special requests, etc. You will sit down with your co-workers and tip back a cold beer you will feel it was all worth it.

[Spark plug]

When was the last time you heard of an unemployed tradesman - mechanic, plumber, electrician, technician?

People will always need things repaired, built or constructed - being a chef is a problem 'cos everyone cooks - and has an opinion on your cooking.

If you're a sparky or a tappie - there are very limited ways to repair something - and you've got your books to back you up.

The only thing you've got to bear in mind is WHERE you're going to practice after this as a sparky. Presumably you're an expat kid and most countries don't look down on tradesman and pay them decent wages. Not so in Singapore.

Finally as a sparky, you can work for someone else or you can work on your own. As a Chef, you could open your own restaurant and go with it and good luck to you. Or you're always depending on someone to give you a job.

Finally (again), the technology is always changing so you've always got things to discover. Chefs? Well... there are chefs and there aren't with the cuisines that are and aren't.

In short - become an electrician.