Some of the advantages of the fb course were not even evident to me until after I had taken the course, for instance:
1. There's a local locksmith supplier in my area and I would not even get my foot in the door without my card.
2. You can subscribe to a locksmith magazine as a student or graduate. You can't do that unless you are a locksmith.
3. With this subscription you have an ISSN number that allows you access into websites that you otherwise could not get in to. This is one site I would not have access to
http://www.hlflake.com/ They are a wholesale distributor.
4. You might be able to learn it all here, but you will need access to the advance section to do so. Even if not extensive fb covers things that can't be discussed here in the public forums.
5. Even if you try to learn it all here you won't know what you need to learn as you might never think to search for it. A course should teach you at least the basics of the most common duties of a locksmith that you may not even realize you need to know.
You won't learn it all from these online courses, but it will get you on the right track. As an fb graduate with some experience as a locksmith I can tell you I'm not sure that I could pass The Associated Locksmiths of America certification program.
If you can follow a locksmith around, then that's great, do it and learn all you can. If you have little or no knowledge of locksmithing then a course like fb is well worth it, especially if you can get it for the $600 with the key machine.
Otherwise certification from one of the online schools may be worthless.
