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Career · Food and hospitality

Pastry chef

Bakes cakes, pastries and other sweets and decorates them so you just want to try them.

Career overview

What a day looks like

A pastry chef measures ingredients precisely and mixes the dough. Then they bake, assemble and decorate desserts, keeping an eye on temperature and time.

Try it yourself this week

  • 40 minutes

    Cook a dish from a recipe and write down what you'd change

    1. Choose a simple recipe and ask an adult in advance which ingredients you can use from home.
    2. Cook the dish with an adult nearby: they'll help with the stove and sharp knives.
    3. While you cook, write down how long each step takes.
    4. Taste it and write down three things: what worked, what you didn't like and what you'd change next time.

    What you'll learn about yourself: Whether you enjoy the cooking itself, or care more about the result and how people react when they try it.

What you can do next

  1. Next 3 months

    • Bake something simple

      Pick an easy recipe for biscuits or a pie, make it with an adult around and write down what you would change.

  2. In six months

    • Learn to measure precisely

      Practise measuring ingredients by the recipe and notice how precision changes the result.

  3. In a year

    • Talk to someone who does this job

      Through people you know and together with your parents, find out how a pastry chef got started and where people learn this work.

What it pays

Pay varies by region, experience and employer. The figures below are approximate ranges from public sources.

Notes on sources are in Russian, as in the original source.

In Kazakhstan

  • BeginnerAlmatyfrom job ads

    240,000–450,000 ₸ per month

    take-home · data: September 2026 · checked: September 2026

    Вакансии «пекарь» и «кондитер»: кондитер 300–400 тыс. ₸, пастри-шеф 500–600 тыс. ₸.

    Source: hh.kz (opens in a new tab)

Where to study

Notes on sources are in Russian, as in the original source.

Colleges

You can apply after grade 9 or 11 — you get a profession faster than at university.

How to get into college

College gets you a profession faster than university. You can apply after grade 9 or after grade 11.

  • Colleges accept students both after grade 9 and after grade 11. After grade 9 you study longer — about 3 years 10 months; after grade 11, about 2 years 10 months. The exact length depends on the college and the specialty.
    Source: kchk.edu.kz (opens in a new tab)
  • About 80% of students admitted to colleges in the 2024/25 school year study on a state order, which means in state-funded places (in 2023/24 it was about 70%). But each college and each specialty has its own number of state-funded places.
    Source: inbusiness.kz (opens in a new tab)
  • There are also paid colleges. For example, training as a nurse at ADILMED costs 450,000 ₸ per year. Check the price and conditions on the college's website.
    Source: adilmed.kz (opens in a new tab)
UNT: which subjects to take for university

The UNT (Unified National Testing) is Kazakhstan's national university entrance test. You need it to get into university after grade 11.

  • The UNT 2026 has three compulsory subjects: History of Kazakhstan, Reading Literacy and Mathematical Literacy. On top of these, you take two profile subjects, chosen to match your specialty.
    Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab)
  • In total, the test has 120 questions (maximum 140 points) and you get 4 hours. The format is the same as in 2025.
    Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab)
  • Profile subjects depend on the group of specialties. For example: information technology — Mathematics and Computer Science; nursing and veterinary medicine — Biology and Chemistry; electrical engineering — Mathematics and Physics; law — World History and Fundamentals of Law. The full list is published by the National Testing Center.
    Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab)
  • For creative specialties (for example, media and design), you take History of Kazakhstan and Reading Literacy through the UNT, and two creative exams at the university itself.
    Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab)
  • Some universities have their own admission rules. Nazarbayev University, for example, requires a UNT score of at least 85, a GPA of 4.0 and English at IELTS 6.0 level.
    Source: nu.edu.kz (opens in a new tab)

Courses and opportunities

Courses

This selection has no free courses with verified sources. Paid ones are listed for reference — check the price and terms on their website.

Opportunities near this field

Can you work before you turn 18?

Under Kazakhstan's Labour Code, teenagers can work, but with limits.

History of the career

No verified information is available in this section yet.

Well-known people in this field

No verified information is available in this section yet.

Is this right for you?

The article is about the career; the conversation is about you. The AI mentor will help you see which fields are worth testing.

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