Locksmith as the Best Career of 2009
Just last year, December 11th, U.S. News said that one of the best careers for 2009 was Locksmithing. Although, after a year of a lot of excitement about Dependable Locksmiths – is it really the best career of 2009? Below we’re posting the exact same article found on usnews.
Overview. A key to job satisfaction is how often you help someone in distress. Locksmithing scores near the top. One of life’s most vulnerable feelings is returning home to find your home broken into; a locksmith can make you safer. One of life’s more frustrating experiences is being locked out of your car; a locksmith lets you in.
And today’s locksmiths go well beyond locks and keys. Your car door may no longer have an entry key but a transponder. In your home or business, security techs install electronic and biometric (thumbprint or iris) entry and fire alarm systems, complete with closed-circuit TV networked to a central monitoring facility.
Despite the field’s growing complexity, basic training is short, usually just a few months You do, however, need a knack for working with gadgets and electronics, good vision and depth perception, and manual dexterity. Basic carpentry, electrical, and welding skills help, too. Perhaps most important, you must be able to resist temptation—after all, you do know how to pick locks. If you have those attributes, locksmithing is a worthy career choice. Along with police officers and FBI agents, yours is the noble goal of foiling the baddie—but with much less risk to life and limb.
A Day in the Life. Your first call is the kind you dread. An older woman returns home to find the doorknob removed and discovers that most of her valuables are gone. Her distress turns to anger when you suggest she’d be wise to replace her flimsy doorknob with a safer but more expensive system. You listen well, playing psychologist, and a few minutes later, without your having to ask again, she requests the upgraded locks. An hour later, her home is safe.
Next is a more entertaining affair. The owner of a pawnshop is on vacation, and the manager needs to get into the safe because a customer is demanding his pawned jewelry. Alas, the owner didn’t leave the combination and is unreachable. You have to drill the safe open and replace the mechanism.
Then, you install a wireless alarm system, something you just recently trained for. Fortunately, a more experienced tech joins you to supervise.
Finally, you return to the office to take a class in installing Internet-based intercoms.
Smart Specialty
Institutional locksmith. You create and manage the usually complex security systems at colleges, museums, corporations, or government agencies.
Learn more: Institutional Locksmiths Association.
Salary Data
Median (with eight years in the field): $43,600
25th to 75th percentile (with eight or more years of experience): $37,500-$55,300
(Data provided by PayScale.com)
Training
Most locksmiths learn on the job, supervised by a master locksmith. That’s supplemented by short online or in-person courses offered by locksmith associations or manufacturers.
After reading this and taking into account all the hype about the locksmith industry – is the locksmith career really the best for 2009? If not, which career do you think deserves that title and please tell us why!
I have always been told that Locksmithing was a great trade to get into and I had a good friend who I worked under as an apprentice for awhile that owned his own HVAC company, he would always insist I try this trade, you can set your own hours and the demand is never ending, something that will always be needed in some form or another. The added bonus is you get to help people, finding a job that allows you to do good things in the world and put your kids through college at the same time is a hard thing to do. I have known people in the industry and I have to say they are some of the smartest people I have ever met and they are able to go places and do things that I have always dreamed about. Like travel! Whether its going to Chicago or other states in the U.S. to meet with other locksmiths or potential clients or just going to Israel, India or Egypt for vacation, its a life I could see myself being happy in. The problem is that the market is very very competitive and there are some people who would like nothing more than to lock the door, as it were, on any potential competition. Can you blame them though? Its a dog eat dog world out there and business is business, we all have to eat and thats just the way it is. Its the same for any industry in the world. If you can monopolize the market, why not? Although I think there are laws against that sorta thing now’a days. I’ve never been the crazy ambitious type, I want to be successful in whatever I do but I’ve never been one to step on someone else to do it, I’m learning that this mentality gets you no where in business, someone is always stepping on someone else. So you have two choices be the crusher or be the crushed. No one wants to be the one being stepped on, well some people like abuse, lol, I don’t.
As far as locksmiths go, it’s one thing to be a locksmith and it’s another to be a professional locksmith. The point I’m making is, you have to choose a professional and not just anyone with the title.
Being a locksmith is a demanding job, your usually on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Especially if your just starting out, whether you are an employee, a contractor or a company owner its. a very demanding job. It has a lot of perks, you get to meet new people, work with your hands, and your usually indoors or only out doors for as short period of time. This is particularly nice in hot summers and cold winters. But your not stuck in a cubical or staring a computer all day. It takes a lot of time and training to get good and you have to want it bad enough, just like anything, you have to learn the trade.