Locksmithing as a Secondary Career

[Kidder]

Hi All,
I can’t believe I found a locksmith forum.

This is post number 1.

I’m 53 years old, my knees are starting to give out a little among other things, and since I started late in life, I have a fairly young family. I’ve been an electrician (maintenance, not construction or residential) for about thirty years. I have a decent job but lately the overtime has been dwindling and there’s always a chance that where I work could be shut down.

Recently I started looking for a potential backup skill to learn, hopefully for no other reason than for part time secondary income. Since medical transcriber and hotel management wouldn’t really cut it for me, I came across a few internet advertisements for locksmithing. The more I thought about it, the more interested I became. After all, it seems like something where you can at least get the basics from one of these courses, it’s kinda mystifying like people who know nothing about electricity, and no heavy lifting. Best of all, unlike the NRI $2000 VCR repair course I took a while back, locks probably won’t disappear in the next few years making my studying worthless.

My first question is to the locksmith business owners out there. If you had somebody walk into your business or received a resume from a person who completed one of these courses, could only work part time, odd hours, and had no real experience, would you ever think of hiring that person, or world you just laugh and throw the resume in the garbage?

My second question is about the courses. I’ve read as many posts on this forum as I possibly could without getting a headache. For the most part the prices are approximately the same give or take a few hundred dollars. Some are set up like classes where you send or email answer sheets out, and some just send you everything in one shot.

I’m basically a visual guy, and like the idea of watching on DVDs. (Use to hate putting my kid’s toys together with those fold out instructions). On the other hand, I also like manuals that I can refer to, and possibly read at work. Can’t really do that with DVD’s. I was wondering if the manuals for some of these courses are fairly simple or do they contain huge blueprints with numbered arrows pointing to fifty different moving parts?

I’m looking at the Locksmith Video course, Foley-Belsaw, and Penn Foster. I read on a post in this forum the Foley-Belsaw was a little outdated, then I looked at the post and it was from 2007. Any comments on this? Also, I’d rather not, but suppose I could buy two for these courses if I really had to.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated..

[WolfSpring]

I recently completed the Foley Belsaw course and i can tell you it is one of the easiest things I've ever done. Total needed work time on this course for all skill packs and lessons was probably less then 10 hours, I would get a skill pack and be done with it within an hour and then wait for the mail to send me the next one, I started mid November and finished the end of January. I learned a little... I had already done some research and every time I finished a lesson and it told me what to expect the next lesson I researched what was comming up. I used you tube, and this site as well as some other sources to "pre-study". I learned more from YouTube, but FB gave me a primer, a what to expect and I added from there. I would not discourage it but if you are looking for a from ground up course to get you running, FB is not that, it is the basics. It does give you a recognized certificate, and some of the information is fairly outdated and it does not touch up a lot on newer stuff, but it does give you proof that you can learn the trade. I have no intention of finding a locksmithing Job in the next 6 years, but I would like to do some minor stuff untill then so I can get some experience and advanced knowledge to be prepared. I'm told, by everyone who cares to comment, that the best way to learn is apprenticeship is the best way to go, but I have heard from successfull locksmiths as well that they just took a course and took a chance, but they had to put a lot of money toward it, I will tell you it is a very expensive start up and keep up job, between machines, tools and stock. But the FB course is as easy and it is ALOA reccognized.

[MBI]

I can't speak for or against the FB class as I've never done it. I learned the basics by just doing them. Then later as need arose I began to take classes offered by suppliers and manufacturers learn specific skills and get certifications related to different brands or categories of equipment.

My knees are shot as well and just to warn you, it can somewhat hinder work as a locksmith.

If you're planning on working for someone else, I'd rely more on your personal attributes such as age/maturity and technical experience as an electrician to make a positive impression on a prospective employer than I would on a locksmithing correspondence course. I'm not saying not to do the course, but to me it would be only be a small part of any decision to hire you.

If you want to give it a shot at being an independent locksmith, be prepared for a substantial outlay of cash for tools, supplies and inventory. For a serious attempt I'd estimate an initial expense of around $10K at a minimum, and that will steadily climb as you take more work. I believe most full time locksmiths in the US make between $25K and $50K per year so it could take a while to make up that investment.

[globallockytoo]

well said MBI!

[globallockytoo]

FB is recognized by ALOA because the owners of FB are paying for recognition.
The course is very basic and does not give enough detail to start your own legitimate business.

It is imperative that you find a mentor.

The FB course is a useless waste of time and money designed to convince the masses of gullible Americans that "they too" can be locksmiths with "our" piece of paper.

[globallockytoo]

Kidder,

I have been in the locksmith trade almost 30 years and worked in multiple continents in most aspects of the trade. I have a lot of experience in multiple areas including training. I am not the best tradesperson out there but I continue to learn and practise to improve my skills.

In the current economic climate, if someone came to me expressing a desire to get into the trade, part time - I would laugh and toss their resume in the round filing cabinet.

Locksmithing is a lifetime career move. Once a locksmith you will always be a locksmith. There is no part time locksmithing. There are a great many DIY'ers and handymen that screw up so many installations and repairs requiring customers to have to pay higher prices to locksmiths to fix it properly, it is a joke.

The electrician trade suffers similarly, except that dwellings and public structures are required by law to have installations performed by licensed contractors prior to being approved by authorities having jurisdiction for completion and residency permits.

The locksmith trade is not protected and as a consequence, there are a great many folk who call themselves locksmiths but arent even close to a true locksmiths ar**hole.

As to courses, you should also consider http://www.lockquiz.com/education/

It is a respected course approved in multiple states , run by competent and qualified long time professionals.

I am not a paid employee or cash for comments person. This is an opinion only. I have seen the text book and the quality of the material far exceeds many other similar texts in the USA.

Penn-Foster is a joke, in my opinion.

Bennet Street School in Boston is one of the best, but also one of the most expensive.

[barbarian]

Do you live in a small town, or big city ? That might make a difference.

Have you thought about being an alarm tech?

Seems to relate to your current experience as an electrician.
Your background may give you a head start.

[Varjeal]

Unless you live in a big city where you can choose the work you do, I wouldn't recommend locksmithing. You mentioned in your original post that you had issues with your knees. To me that's warning sign number one.

Locksmithing may not require heavy lifting very often, but it does require stretching, bending, and often times kneeling at a customers door or reaching into awkward places.

My best advice is that if you are -really- interested in locksmith work, find an existing large business looking for someone to work at a bench all day and/or serve customers that walk in.