> There are plenty of restaurants that will hire an 18 year old with no experience and literally no qualifications to be a waiter. And they'll likely be workin

> There are plenty of restaurants that will hire an 18 year old with no experience and literally no qualifications to be a waiter. And they'll likely be working in a chain restaurant barely making more than minimum wage, not breaking $20K per year. > Lots of places when they are looking for experienced staff just hire anyone who had any waiting experience. And again, waiters in such a situation will likely not be making much money. To actually make $60K or more as a waiter, you need to have selling ability, wine knowledge and the skills to get into a better restaurant. You likely won't see anywhere close to this until you have 5 or more years of good experience (not unlike getting a traditional education). If you're working at Chili's (or equivalent), lets say the average person spends $30. You serve 30 people in a night, that's $900 in sales (18% is $160). Now let's say you work in a high end steakhouse, steaks can run $50 each, appetizers $25 each, and then there's wine. Bottles can run anywhere from $50 to thousands. But let's say you sell a $120 bottle, which is a pretty common price-point in those types of restaurants. For a table of 2, 2 appetizers, 2 steaks and that bottle of wine adds up to $135/per person. Times 30 people per night, around $4K in sales, with tips being $780 (although, in reality, some of that goes to your support staff - bussers, host, sommelier). Anyhow no, a coder won't get a great job right away. And a server won't get a lucrative job right away. You still need to build up to that point in the restaurant industry. You can't just do what cooks and waiters do at places like Eleven Madison Park, Benu, Saison, etc... without lots of training and experience. So why shouldn't it be a possibility for a restaurant worker to make a 'professional' income?