Locksmith Training
Lock-smithing is a very useful skill and can also be a very fulfilling career with those with a knack for locks. With the Ashworth College locksmith training home study course in professional lock-smithing, you'll have the opportunity to learn learn the ins and outs of being a locksmith. The school will help prepare you to pursue opportunities for an independent career.
You'll learn about a large variety of locks, keys, alarms, and security systems. Type by type, brand by brand, you can learn how they function and how to troubleshoot and fix each one. The Ashworth College distance learning locksmith training course is designed to help you gain the knowledge and the specific skills that many people only learn through hands-on experience.
An don't forget there are no educational prerequisites or experience requirements to enroll. Home study training from Ashworth College makes studying to become a locksmith easy.
Ashworth College 
Penn Foster Career School 
Overview
A locksmith is someone who designs locks and keys, fits them together and helps to implement security measures. When most people think of locksmiths, they think of someone to call when they have locked their keys in their car. However, auto locksmithing is only one of several career focus areas of locksmiths. Other duties you may be involved in as a locksmith include duplicating keys, changing the locks between tenants for apartment building managers, help people who are locked out of their homes, opening safes and related duties. Locksmithing as a profession has come a long way since the days when they were primarily seen as lock pickers.
How Much Education is Required to Become a Locksmith?
Most locksmith degree programs can be completed in one year or less through a variety of educational options. Locksmithing degree and certificate programs are available at most community and technical colleges or even through community education programs. Also, professional locksmith organizations offer their own training programs or can refer you to one. The Associated Locksmiths of America offers over 100 different training programs to become a certified locksmith. Regardless of which type of training you choose, you can expect to learn about disc and pin cylinders, how to duplicate keys, how to open a safe, automotive locksmithing, typical shop operations, safety measures and related skills.
Once you have completed your formal locksmith training, your next step is to arrange to take the locksmithing certification exam. This lends credibility to your formal training and helps you to stand out as an expert over when competing with other locksmiths for job openings. The certification exam for locksmithing consists of six sections. These include key duplication and code cutting, making key impressions, commercial master keying, opening and changing safe combinations, picking a lock and lock re-keying. There are study guides available to help you master each of the six areas before taking the exam.
What is the Job Outlook and Typical Pay for Locksmiths?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the demand for locksmiths is expected to decline to an annual growth rate of just four percent. However, this figure can be somewhat misleading and needs to be interpreted in terms of the different ways in which locksmiths are expected to remain in demand.
Some equipment that is currently used by locksmiths to gain access to locked homes and automobiles is quickly becoming outdated. This is due to the fact that new technology requires locksmiths to have extensive computer training and the ability to diagnose problems electronically. Essentially, the services provided by locksmiths are still needed and are not actually declining. It is the method that locksmiths use to perform these services that is undergoing rapid change.
As far as the earning capacity of locksmiths is concerned, the BLS identified the figure $37,500 as the median salary earned by everyone in this profession in 2010. The field is a relatively small one, with just 16,000 people identifying themselves as locksmiths two years ago. More than 11,000 of those people were employed in security services and investigation. This is also the specialty area of locksmithing with the lowest reported average salary. Locksmiths earning the highest salaries of up to $60,000 a year were most often employed by a branch of the federal government.
References:
http://locksmithcareertraining.com/index.html
http://www.pick-a-lock.com/certify.html
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes499094.htm
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