I just started decorating cakes recently and realized how fun and fulfilling it is for me. I also just had a baby 4 months ago and am a stay at home mom at this time. I have to go back to work at some point, for financial reasons and I have been considering a change of career. I have looked into working as a cake decorator at a bakery so that I can gain some experience.
Does anyone have any advice on this? Is it a good idea? or do you think its more of a waste of time?
I've heard working as a decorator in a busy bakery is extremely time consuming and can get very monotonous. My thoughts are that I could get paid for gaining experience and then apply the experience to my own cakes down the road.

what to do.... what to do....

any thoughts are appreciated. thanks

I've heard that Target pays their decorators pretty good ($13-$17 an hour) and they only require basic skills. You might check into a smaller bakery also. My assistant didn't have any decorating experience when I hired her and now (about 1 year later) she can do a wedding cake. Her pay isn't as much per hour, but I do give her a bonus on each finished wedding cake that she decorates. Anyway, just a thought.

That's exactly what I did. I don't know what your pay at your last job was, but cake decorators don't make much. I started at $7 and moved up to $9 by a year later. Design options are limited. You get to use buttercream, plastic toys, and edible images. And you get 10-15 minutes per cake. Luckily they don't expect you to start out going that fast. You will do a lot of the same type cakes over and over again, what ever characters are popular at the time, but that is when you just practice your speed.

A job is a job. If you have to have one, then get one that will train you for the career you want in the future. That is one thing I am extremely greatful for. I learned speed, other aspescts of running a bakery, and got a look into how the big guys run. All that while they paid me. I learned a wealth of info and got more practice in than I would have in 10 years of going on my own.