“Being a great baker and pastry chef requires the upmost open mind. I try every dessert that comes my way!”

Christina Tosi, Chef

Pros and Cons of Working as a Baker

You think about becoming a baker right now or know someone who wants to choose this career path?

Then this article is exactly for you!

In fact, I show you all the pros and cons of being a baker in the following chapters.

Without further ado, let’s dive right into it.

Baker Job Profile

Advantages of Being a Baker

1. You can make people happy
2. Bakers can create healthy food
3. You can be creative as a baker
4. You can open your own bakery
5. Low barriers to entry
6. No college education required
7. Good job prospects for bakers
8. Bakers can work rather independently
9. Machines make your life much easier
10. Bakers don’t have to sit in an office all day long
11. You can work indoors as a baker
12. Suitable for people who love baking
13. You can develop good coordination skills
14. Bakers can supply their loved ones with delicious baked goods

You can make people happy

One important advantage of being a baker is that you can make people happy.

In fact, I personally really like starting my day with a delicious pretzel or roll and it can just make my life much better.

And it’s not only me.

Many people really love eating tasty baked goods all day long.

Hence, as a baker, similar to pastry chefs, it is in your hands to provide the best baked goods possible so that people get the best possible experience.

In turn, people will get a more positive feeling and can enjoy their day much more.

This may sound strange to you.

However, small things can have a big influence on how we perceive life and a nice pretzel can really make your day 😉.

Thus, being a baker can be a great job if you really want to improve the lives of many people in a rather simple manner.

Bakers can create healthy food

As a baker, you can also provide healthy food to your customers.

While most bakeries produce rather unhealthy stuff that can be problematic for our bodies in the long run, you can work in a bakery that produces rather healthy baked goods.

By doing so, you can not only improve the health of people, you can also assure that your bakery has a unique selling point and that people who are aware of how their food affect their health will come back to you instead of buying their baked goods at another conventional bakery.

You can be creative as a baker

Another upside of being a baker is that you can be quite creative regarding what baked goods you want to create.

In fact, opportunities are almost endless and you can create new pastries and other baked goods every day.

If you are really good at what you are doing, many people will come back to your store frequently since they are curious regarding what you will create and love to be surprised.

Consequently, if you are a creative person who loves to try out new things and to develop your skills further, chances are that a career as a baker can be the right way to go for you.

You can open your own bakery

If you learn how to make your own delicious pastries and other baked goods, you can either work as an employee for your whole life or you can also open your own bakery after a few years.

This also greatly depends on your character and your personal preferences.

While having your own baking business will be more challenging and also requires plenty of paperwork, you will be your own boss and can do whatever you want as long as you obey local laws. It is also rather easy to open a bakery in many countries.

You just need a small store, some equipment and you are good to go.

Hence, if you want to work self-employed in the long run and be your own boss instead of working for someone else, becoming a baker can also be great in this regard.

Low barriers to entry

Another benefit of becoming a baker is that there are pretty low barriers to entry.

In many countries, you do not even need to finish school to become a baker.

Sure, your chances of finding a job as a baker increase with your education level.

However, quite often, there are no formal requirements for this job.

Thus, especially if you currently have a hard time finding a job and urgently need money, applying as a baker can be a great way to make a living.

In fact, there is a labor shortage in many bakeries and those bakeries will be quite happy to employ you if you are willing to work hard, even though you might not have a good formal education.

No college education required

You also don’t need any college education for a career as a baker.

While many people have to go to college as a formal requirement to get their dream job afterward, you can just start out earning money as a baker from the first day.

Not only that, you can also avoid student loan debt that is quite common among people who have to go to college to finance their education.

Student loan debt is a serious problem since people have to pay off their debt with high interest rates for many years or even decades after they finished school.

Hence, you can avoid falling for the student debt trap and can use those large sums of money that you saved for other important things.

Good job prospects for bakers

Since many people don’t want to become bakers due to the rather low salaries and other reasons mentioned in the second part of this article, job prospects will be excellent.

Especially if you are really good at what you are doing, you will almost always find a job as a baker since people just want to consume tasty baked goods, today and also in the future.

Therefore, as a baker, you don’t have to worry about becoming unemployed.

Even if you get laid off one day, you will still be able to find another job pretty soon in most parts of the world.

Bakers can work rather independently

As a baker, you will also be able to work rather independently.

In fact, you will often have nobody standing behind you and controlling what you are doing.

Instead, you can just work on your own and as long as your results are decent, you will keep this high level of independence since your boss will trust you and knows that results will be great even without supervising you.

Thus, working as a baker can also be a great career choice if you want to work on your own and don’t like to get commands from your boss all day long.

Machines make your life much easier

You can also profit from the rapid technological progress as a baker.

While baking had been pretty exhausting in the past and required plenty of manual work just one century ago, you now have machines that can make your life as a baker much easier.

In fact, in many bakeries, you can just use machines so that they can do most of the manual work for you.

Sure, there will still be a certain level of physical work involved in the job as a baker, yet the fraction of your workday in which you have to do manual exhausting work will be much lower compared to past decades and centuries.

Bakers don’t have to sit in an office all day long

While some people love to work in office jobs, the majority of people just hate it.

In fact, working in an office all day long can feel quite strange and also has nothing to do with human nature.

We as humans have evolved moving around all day long, foraging for food and building things.

As a baker, you will not be out in the woods doing so.

However, you will still do some work with your hands and get sufficient exercise.

Hence, while people who work in office jobs have to work in a rather artificial environment, you can stay fit and also have plenty of opportunities to move during your workday.

You can work indoors as a baker

As a baker, you will also be able to work indoors.

While this might not sound like much to you in the beginning, working indoors can be really great in case it rains or snows outside.

In many jobs, people have to work under those extreme conditions.

For instance, a construction worker will be out in the cold pretty often and can’t just go inside.

By becoming a baker, you will have this comfort of being inside and being protected against those adverse weather conditions.

Suitable for people who love baking

Whether the job as a baker will be suitable for you or not also greatly depends on your individual preferences and interests.

If you don’t like baking and cooking in general, there is just no point in becoming a baker since you will just not be happy in the long run.

However, if you have a passion for those things and would even do them for free since baking is sort of a hobby for you, chances are that a career as a baker can be great for you.

You can develop good coordination skills

Since you will work on many different products at the same time, you will also learn how to coordinate yourself well as a baker.

Sure, in the beginning, it can be rather stressful to have the responsibility for many different products.

However, over time, you will become more relaxed since you will learn how to develop yourself further and how to carry out your work in the most efficient manner.

Bakers can supply their loved ones with delicious baked goods

If you work as a baker, you will not only be able to provide tasty baked goods to your customers.

You will also be able to create delicious pretzels or other baked things for your family and friends.

In fact, it can be quite nice to make your own baked goods together with your kids and you can make a really nice family experience out of creating your own pastries or buns.

Thus, becoming a baker can not only benefit you in your professional life, it can also help you in your private life as well.

Disadvantages of Being a Baker

1. Low average salary
2. Many bakers struggle to pay their bills
3. Bakers have to start working pretty early in the morning
4. Sleeping problems are rather common
5. Difficult to manage your family life
6. Your partner may become annoyed
7. Exhausting working conditions
8. Physically demanding job
9. Being a baker can be problematic once you become older
10. Limited career opportunities
11. Bakers carry out rather standardized work
12. Time pressure
13. You may get bored after a while

Low average salary

While there are many advantages to becoming a baker, there are still some problems related to this job.

For instance, one problem with being a baker is that you will earn a pretty low salary.

In fact, bakers just make around 35.000 dollars per year on average.

Sure, some bakers earn more than this.

However, compared to air traffic controllers and most other jobs, you will earn significantly less money and you should keep in mind that this will not change that much during your career as a baker.

Hence, if your goal is to make lots of money, becoming a baker will definitely not be the way to go for you.

Many bakers struggle to pay their bills

Bakers not only make rather limited amounts of money, they often even struggle to pay their basic expenses.

In fact, especially in metropolitan areas, bakers often can’t even pay their rents since they are simply far too high compared to their average income.

Consequently, you may even become homeless as a baker in the long run since you will simply struggle to pay your rent in the future, especially if you live in cities where rents are quite high.

Bakers have to start working pretty early in the morning

Another disadvantage of being a baker is that you have to get up pretty early in the morning.

In fact, many bakers start their workday in the middle of the night between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. since they have to prepare all the baked goods for the early morning when people have to go to work.

Thus, if you are a person who loves his sleep and don’t want to get up in the early morning, chances are that you will be much better off with a different career path.

Sleeping problems are rather common

Since bakers have to get up early in the morning, many of them also suffer from serious sleeping issues.

In fact, we as humans have evolved by working at daytime and sleeping at night since we haven’t had any electricity early on in history.

Consequently, our bodies and our brains still work best during the day and working at night can be regarded as kind of unnatural.

It can also destroy our natural sleeping rhythm.

Hence, be prepared that you will have a hard time sleeping as a baker and that your overall quality of life will greatly suffer due to that.

Difficult to manage your family life

Being a baker can also be problematic for your family life.

Since you will struggle to find good sleep, you will be in a rather bad mood most of the time.

Moreover, you will sleep during the day and when your kids want to go outside and play with you, you will often not be able to do so.

Thus, the quality time you can spend with your family will be rather limited and you should make sure that your job is worth this to you.

Your partner may become annoyed

Since you will leave in the early morning for your job throughout the week, chances are that your partner will also become quite annoyed with you since he or she wants to sleep and doesn’t want to wake up every night.

In fact, a relationship with a baker can be rather problematic in the long run and many of those relationships ended sooner or later.

Exhausting working conditions

While the job as a baker has become easier than it was just one century ago thanks to machines that can be used in our current state of the world, it can still be an exhausting job.

Not only do you have to get up in the morning pretty early, you also have to coordinate yourself quite well and have to do multiple things at the same time.

If you make mistakes, whole batches of food will burn and your boss will not be happy with you at all.

Hence, you always have to stay focused as a baker to provide the best baked goods possible to your customers.

Physically demanding job

Many people also underestimate the physical component that comes along with working as a baker.

In fact, you will have to do plenty of manual work and you will also stand all day long.

Especially if you are not that fit, working as a baker can really pose problems for you.

Thus, make sure that you are in good shape before deciding for a baker career.

Being a baker can be problematic once you become older

Due to the physical nature of the job, being a baker can also be problematic once you get older.

You will simply no longer have the same power in your 50s or 60s as you had in your 20s.

Back pain or other physical health problems become quite probable at this time and many bakers even have to quit their jobs due to those issues.

Limited career opportunities

As a baker, you will also have to work in a rather narrow field.

You will just not have plenty of career opportunities since the only thing you really learned is baking.

For instance, if you study business or many other majors, you can work in many different fields afterward.

However, if you are a baker, you will just have to make pastries and other baked goods for many years or even decades.

You’re your chances for promotions are rather limited.

Consequently, make sure that baking is really your passion since you will not have many other career opportunities to choose from once you are in this field.

Bakers carry out rather standardized work

If you have your own bakery, you will be free to create many different baked goods and to always invent yourself new.

However, if you work as an employee in a bakery, you will often not have this high level of freedom.

Pretty often, there will be a set of baked goods your bakery provides for your customers and you will just have to do the same standardized work every day.

Time pressure

Also the time pressure for bakers can be significant.

Especially if you make mistakes, you will often struggle to produce sufficient baked goods in time.

In such a case, your boss will often not be happy with you at all and may even fire you in the worst case.

You may get bored after a while

Many bakers also get bored with their jobs after a while.

Sure, in the beginning, everything has been exciting.

However, after a few years, many bakers question whether this career path had indeed been right for them and many of them are looking out for more exciting alternative career opportunities.

Top 10 Being a Baker Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A Baker?

Now that I showed you all the advantages and disadvantages of being a baker, it is on you to decide whether this career path is for you or if you rather want to go for other job options instead.

Just make sure that you evaluate all the pros and cons of becoming a baker properly so that you can make the best decision possible in this regard.

If you want to get even more information on a baker career, make sure to also have a look at the salaries, career prospects, educational requirements, working hours and job satisfaction of bakers.

Also make sure to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a carpenter

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a chef

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/bakers.htm

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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