Had always thought of a stage as something for someone in or recently out of culinary school or the like.
Since I still haven't found a job since getting back to the States and since I can't really afford culinary school (and, thanks to this forum and other discussions I've had, knowing that culinary school isn't truly necessary), I started to wonder how I could get back into the kitchen, extend my relatively limited experience and start to grow in this field (and NOT go back to computer work).
In poking around the Internet, this morning, I discovered an article titled "So You Want to Stage (Intern) at a Restaurant," which has what seems to be some good information and also implies that culinary school and experience are not needed in order to stage. In fact, it begins, "So… you are a middle manager in charge of filing reports in triplicate, but you are a good home cook, watch Top Chef and read Lucky Peach, and secretly fantasize about giving up your day job to work in a kitchen."
In addition, one of the people who posted a comment to that article included a link to his blog ("The Fit Duck") about his experiences as "A crazy 31 year old IT guy wants to become a chef."
That got me thinking that, maybe, I could try the same thing and seek out a local restaurant that might take me on to stage. If nothing else, I would be learning and gaining experience that I could use in a future job or maybe even be offered employment there, after a while.
What do you all think about this? Jacob? Anyone else?