Career change - Locksmith or Alarm Tech
I'm seriously considering a career change from my current IT role.
Reasons for the change include wanting to get away from the desk, work with my hands, do work that is more tangible and directly related to satisfying basic human needs. I don't necessarily want to debate the merits of whether change away from IT is a good idea or not. So let's put that question aside for the moment.
Being a hobby picker I've considered locksmith training. I've also looked at alarm / security system tech as I'm interested in physical security in general
Where I am (Quebec, Canada) the statistics I've found point toward better employment outlook for alarm technicians.
As professionals working in the field do these stats reflect your experience? If you were in my shoes and had to start down a training path in the next couple of years, would you go the locksmith route or the alarm tech route? I understand that this forum may not be the most unbiased source of advice on the question and I mean no disrespect to either profession. Just looking for honest opinions on the state of things right now.
A couple of considerations:
1) I'm already very fluent with computers & networking technology. TCP/IP, routing, server admin, etc... Pretty competent coder.
2) Where I'm located both locksmithing and alarm tech require a seperate 1 year trade school course in order to get a license from the provincial government. Offered not too far from me during the night time so I could potentially work part time days while completing the courses.
3) Married, no kids at the moment. Wife working full time so if there's some lean times as I get going it's not catastrophic but obviously would like to avoid it
I think my IT background is probably more of an asset for the alarm tech field but I understand that automotive locksmithing is now increasingly requiring these skills as well.
In and ideal world, I'd do both courses and get licensed to do both things but I'm still in the very early planning stages and not sure how feasible that is. Would really appreciate any input you may have on this.
Cheers.