Would becoming a chef be a terrible idea?

Yes, and ADHD has nothing to do with my answer. Don't work in food service unless you're a proper lunatic and have an incredibly high tolerance for being constantly shit on by people who wouldn't slow down if they ran you over.

I know a person who went the other way. Fine dining chef for years to world class software dev, and they constantly remind themselves that as bad as it can get, it's still not a kitchen.

If your not working right now anyway, it's a perfect time to experiment if you have the financial means to support yourself while you do

I worked in a kitchen the summer after I graduated high school and before I left for college.

I found it was the perfect job to make sure I worked hard in college, got good grades, and got a good job, because it convinced me I never ever wanted to work in a kitchen again.

In 35 years I've never once thought I should go back to working in a kitchen. I've had shitty jobs and shitty managers since then, but the actual work has never been as miserable as that.

Can you do the same thing for 8+ hours in a row? Even when it's not interesting? Can you chop 100 onions and still enjoy that process afterwards the next day, and the day after? Making risotto 100 times in a day? Baking 50 loaves of bread? 2000 cookies? Can you switch back and forth and make sure nothing is raw or burnt? How's your time management? Down to the nanosecond? (hyperbole, but still)

Working in a kitchen professionally is doing things at enormous scale, and doing it all day, every day, and often doing 5+ tasks at once, each of which need to be timed to be complete within seconds (ideally). Often more than 40 hours a week. And often lots of yelling.

How does that sound?

my time working in the restaurant industry was the worst employment experience I’ve ever had in my life. The expectations are shit, the pay is shit, the benefits are shit, the hours are shit

But some people seem to love it despite all that so

In my late teens to early 20s, I worked in a nightclub (UK). I loved the job and made a load of great friends, but it was a lot of hard work.

I loved it for the reasons you described, especially on the busy nights when it was non stop. I found though that I was working myself to the bone. I didn't realise it at the time, but I didn't have much of a life away from the club. It was as if I hyperfocused on the club for a few years.

Higher education wasn't the right path for me at the time, but I dropped out of college for the job, and saw less and less of my friends who were not linked to the club in some way.

It may not be anything to do with the ADHD, but I find fast paced work like that almost addictive, and would definitely say that it's something to be aware of, just in case.

I worked on the food service industry for 5 years, it was absolutely terrible

I've been in the freight industry for the last 7 years, though it can be tough at times it's really only due to some of my coworkers. The work plays into my strengths really.

Every little detail popping out to me means that the information I need and the condition of the freight all screams at me.

There's always something new to draw my attention as that's literally the job, new pallets all the time.

And it's physically demanding too

Been a chef. It works pretty well for adhd, if you can find a job that has the right level of business and organisation to keep you in flow. It can be really fun reacting to things and having lots of short goals and dopamine hits.

But equally, once it becomes too busy (or the kitchen is poorly organised) it's easy to become overwhelmed and that can exhausting. If you're like most adhders I know, you might find keeping you kitchen organised and remembering where you've put that small tub with that essential garnish for the next order. As you search everywhere for it, you make even more of mess, and then you discover that it was exactly where you first looked, but because you're hyper and rushing you missed... And now you are even more behind with the checks and you remember that you forgot to put that vital thing in the oven two hours ago, so you're going to have tell the wait staff that the one vegetarian dish in the menu is finished.

Also, as everyone else is saying, being a chef is stressful, poorly paid, and easily leads to world of alcoholism and/or stimulant addiction. That being said, it can be fun! And being a good cook is a life skill. So, if you find a job somewhere that seems like a good vibe, go for it. But i don't think I could recommend it as a career plan.

I don't think I've ever been as happy at work as working the line at McDonald's. Maybe there's something there..