I am about to start a course at a culinary academy to become certified in baking and pastry. They have a placement program for graduates and I was told that the starting salary on long island (nassau/suffolk county) is between $40-60k depending on where I worked, which surprised me. After completing the course I will have over 100 hours of training. Also I think that I have good baking skills to begin with so I feel that I will be able to do well in the class. Does a starting salary of $40k on long island sound accurate for someone in my position, a "skilled", trained beginner. Are there any pastry chefs familiar with long island that can confirm this and if so where should I be looking?

First of all you would start out as a pastry cook at best or most likely a bench worker or decorator for around $7 an hour, if you are lucky enought to find someone to hire someone without any real experience.

Second there are very few real "Pastry Chef" positions on LI, and those are filled by folks with years and years of hands on experience in the US and very possibly in Europe.

The folks in the program lied to you. After 100 hours of training you will not be qualified to do much of anything.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but those are the facts.

G

PS: Are you going to that "program" in Westbury?

They told you that?
see the ACF org. should try to shut down this kind of crap.
what a joke!

Here are some statistics,

Baker's Wages. and For individuals interested in being a baker as a career.