How do you become a locksmith?
Locksmithing isn’t something that’s usually taught in local colleges in the same way that other trades are taught. You may be wondering how to become a locksmith, or indeed just wondering why we chose to be as we are.
Here are the main paths to becoming a lockie:
Locksmith school
Plenty of guys just enrol in a locksmith training school. There are a few in the UK. They’ll usually teach you the essentials, so that you can start doing jobs here and there. However, it must be said that schools can only take you so far. You need to go out there and gain plenty of experience.
Via carpentry
Carpentry is a natural springboard for locksmiths. Carpenters often fit new doors and are exposed to locks in this way. In any case, carpentry is a very useful skill for a locksmith, since lockies get called out to all kinds of horrible break-in repairs where entire frames have been ripped out, for example.
Apprenticeship and father–son knowledge transfer
There are plenty of locksmith apprenticeships out there, for those who are interested. Many fathers choose their sons as apprentices in the locksmith trade; family plays a large role here.
Being an apprentice is an excellent way to learn the trade, as you’re exposed to all manner of real-life scenarios, getting a lot of on-the-job learning that you might not get from a school.
Via key-cutting
A few of us start off as key-cutters. This job inevitably exposes you to all kinds of whacky keys and locks that customers come to you with. It’s easy, then, to branch out into actual locksmithing from there.
The logistics of running a call-out business alongside a shop makes it challenging, though, unless you have colleagues who can cover for you in the shop.
Via electronic access control
A less common path is to get into locksmithing via access control. Intercom systems always work in conjunction with some kind of lock, and sometimes, when a customer says “Help! My intercom isn’t working”, it might actually be the lock that’s at fault, not the intercom.
It’s uncommon for people to enter into the locksmith world via access control for two reasons: 1) they’ll only encounter a few specific types of lock in their daily life (latches, electric releases etc.), so won’t have all that much breadth to make a transition into locksmithing worthwhile; and 2) there’s too little supply and too much demand for access control engineers as it is, so they won’t need to branch out in order to bring home the bacon.
Once you’ve become a locksmith, you’ll likely be looking for work. We’ve got you covered: if you’re looking for extra locksmith work, we’re always recruiting!