Haha, scored a locksmith apprenticeship today.

[Beyond]

Originally Posted by DeAd

hey congrats. I think more and more locks are becoming computer -ized, -controlled? Those bio scanners , eye, face, fingerprint locks.
I like the craftmanship of old locks, some clever stuff.

I noticed that when I went to the shop. Luckily, they carry a lot of that new stuff as well so my knowledge won't become dated.

[delusional_reality]

*waits for members to start hassling you to make bump keys for them*

congrats!

[Beyond]

Considering turning this or a separate thread into a journal discussing what I have learned, picked up, done, etc. that may be useful to other members.

S25, thoughts?

[Beyond]

Start tomorrow.

It's about 22 miles, no idea the km conversion, so I'm doing half of that on a subway system in the Atlanta area.

That brings me to another goal - finding a way to gain free rides within a year, and not the cheap hopping the rail fix (cops at all the stations). Our subway system uses magnetic cards. I'll have to either figure out someway to find loopholes in the system, via transfer passes, etc., or find a way to alter the values stored on the card.

Either way, I went to do a drug test/background check which I should easily pass. I haven't done drugs in ages and I don't even have a ticket on my record. The owner is very cool towards me. Rather than keep me in the shop for my tenure as an apprentice, he's already looking to distribute me into the various jobs of the site (mobile, in-house shop, etc.) so that is a good plus.

I'm not getting paid much, minimum in the U.S., but that's not why I went for the job and I doubt that's why anyone goes for apprenticeships. He wants to start me at 2-3 days a week and slowly build me up into full time. How long that will take is over my head, I don't know much about apprenticeships other than it's many months/years of bitchwork in exchange for their training/knowledge.

Long-term the money for a locksmith is pretty good in the states, it'd definitely be a comfortable living if I decided to take it full time in the futre. I haven't really decided whether or not I will make this my life profession, especially with a few months left in my degree. I am considering going back for another degree in a closely related field to buy some time to make a decision while still doing something productive.

I'm relatively young, 20, to be getting a degree and my parents aren't hinting that they want me out. Regardless, this job will provide me with enough money for rent/car insurance and not much else.

A great thing I have noticed about this company is that they don't just stop at locks. They offer full surveillance systems for commercial/residential clients which is another area that I would love to learn about.

That's all I can think of for now, I will start posting anything useful I learn to educate anyone interested in locksmithing/lock picking/apprenticing.

[DeAd]

Hey if nothing else, you can start saving the filings from making new keys. I bet there is a big pile you could scoop up now. :0

[Beyond]

Today I really just moped around the shop talking to people. The owner really didn't have me doing much, besides 4-6 hours of continuous re-keying of tumbler locks. Didn't even once ask me to do something remotely laborious. He showed me how to re-key, dumped about 5 locks in front of me, and told me to practice.

I did that for the most part of the day, as well as practice picking them after I was done. Also walked around the premises (Shops fairly large) and talked to the other locksmiths there. Found out they also service, repair, sell, and refurbish safes. And not the dinky ones you find at Wal-Mart or the like, full scale safes - 3000+ lbs.

Furthermore I talked to their CCTV/Surveillance guy who mentioned me learning a few things from him, which I don't mind as I am always willing to learn about security related topics.

All and all it was a very good day. I sat on my ass and learned (I do that on the internet anyways) and made about $50 doing it. The owner is hella cool and has already put a lot of trust into me. I got to drive around 2 company cars to run various errands.

I really like where this job is going.