An engineering degree in Locksmithing!

We have been speaking a lot about locks and locksmithing in the recent months on this blog.

Apart from bringing you information on various kinds of locks and ways to break them, we have also been speaking a lot about the profession in general.

This article is to do with that genre, and has a very unique premise. You would be knowing that there is a lot of knowledge flowing around in the locksmithing community – especially with the modern breakthroughs in the field including electronic locks and other security systems. There have been a lot of informal locksmith schools across the country where some well-informed locksmith trains a few people looking to get into the profession; but like we said, it is quite informal and cannot be recognized by an institution.

For precisely that purpose, there are courses now available which certify a person in locksmithing, and the best qualification in the genre is an engineering degree in locksmithing. While that is a serious addition to the portfolio of someone with a background in locksmithing looking to expand, for most of the others, a trade degree from a recognized place of education will do.

Trade degrees are recognized by the government, and are necessary for governmental tenders and other such professionals bids. There are two levels of trade programs in locksmithing, and they are

• General Locksmithing, and
• Professional Locksmithing

Like the names suggest, general locksmithing is targeted to the novice who wants to get into the locksmithing business, and wants a good entry to the field. This module would cover all the necessary basics including the usage of common lock picking tools, installations, and repairs of common lock models, automobile lock maintenance, and other related topics.

The professional locksmithing module is more advanced than the one mentioned above, and is just right for someone already in the business of locksmithing looking to break into the big league. This module will have all the electronic lock installation and maintenance methods, and will also include processes for a security audit. These are the people who are qualified to undertake installations and repairs of a large scale in modern buildings.

If you are looking to get started in the profession, this might just be right for you!

Pic Credit – Internet

How Locksmiths became ‘Security Engineers’

For many people, even today, the term ‘Locksmith’ represents someone who either makes or breaks locks. More of the latter, as that is when we suddenly realize the need of a good locksmith – especially when we are locked out of our car or home.

But nothing can be farther than the truth! The role of locksmiths has been changing so quickly over the years that unless you are a locksmith yourself, you won’t be able to keep pace. Even some of the not-so-serious locksmiths got filtered out in this tremendous pace of change.

The change we are talking about basically is the advent of technology. From the initial days of locksmithing – several thousand years ago itself, locksmiths were considered to be engineers par excellence, and the creations they made are so wondrous, we gawk at them even today in museums! With time, the locking systems became more and more complex, and today we see a multitude of them when we visit a hardware store. Though they are primarily made by a machine, they were invented by a locksmith somewhere, right?

In the modern times (read as the last decade or so), the role of a locksmith has changed from that of a service provider who comes and installs locks, to one who consults with corporations on their security needs. When a new company is being built, one of the first teams of people will include a security expert who has a grounding in lockmaking, or an expert locksmith will be called in to gauge the amount of security needed for the firm. So a modern locksmith is also a security expert who handles all kinds of access systems – from the ubiquitous locks to the ultra modern biometric access devices. All of them can be installed by a modern locksmith, and they can be serviced and maintained by them. Sometimes, the most difficult safes and doors also need to broken open, and then too, the modern locksmith comes in handy. If you are wondering how he can open a modern safe of today, there are always some kind of loopholes that are wontedly left by the company making the safe, so that in a situation when it needs to be broken open, there is a way to do so – but only a trained locksmith would know how to.

One major aspect of locksmiths’ work is to break open locks – both at home and at office, and earlier the locks just had to be changed (or sometimes the same locks were used again). But modern locksmiths have an option to rekey the locks, meaning that the old key will no longer open the lock, and there is no need for the home owner to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new locking system!

And most of today’s homes and offices don’t just have one level of security. There are multiple levels, and if the building is a new one, most of the levels of security are of different kinds. For instance, in addition to the normal key entry system at a home, there could be a code that needs to be entered on an electronic lock system which otherwise will send an alarm to the local police station. Then there could be video surveillance from multiple angles. These are some of the most common security levels that are in use even in homes across America. In an office, there would be many more such levels and they would all be so complex. It is the locksmith who installs them all, and to do so, he would first need to take a security need audit of the firm (or the house). Depending on the locality and the kind of business being run, the amount of security would undergo quite a change.

Coming back to our title today, that is how locksmiths had to become security experts and hence the term ‘security engineers’ came into being. Today there are colleges which have security engineering as a specialization in the final year, and people can graduate as qualified security engineers. The large locksmithing companies absorb the best graduates of each year, adding intellectual capital to their ranks. There is a lot more to talk about, but we’ve run out of space. Will come back with more in a few days time.

Pic Courtesy – Internet