WORKING -- JASON PROUGH

-- STORY BY TORUS TAMMER, PHOTO BY XXXX

HE IS

The locksmith technician of Huntington Beach

NEW JOB

Prough, 25, started working at Ken’s Locksmithery about four years

ago. His friend Chris worked there at the time and asked him if he was

interested in the job. He was ready for a change, he recalled.

“I was managing a telemarketing office and going to school part time,”

Prough said. “So I took the job at entry level and have since moved up. I

am still studying business at Orange Coast [College] at night on a

part-time basis.”

GAINING KNOWLEDGE

Prough said being a locksmith technician is not limited to cutting

copies of keys. He also installs electronic access-control systems

operated by keypad entry units.

His job has many facets and requires a lot of knowledge about

technology and business, he said. Occasionally, he said, there have been

seminars or classes made available. But for the most part, his learning

has taken place on the job.

“Taking classes has helped me with some technological things, and

school has helped me with the business side,” Prough said. “But I would

say that 90% of what I learned was on the job -- seeing how a business

runs has been great and has helped strengthen my communication and

business skills.”

CUSTOMERS

Prough said one of the best parts of his job is going out and giving

bids to customers. He gets out and about, and it enables him to meet a

variety of people.

“What I will do when I go on a bid is just point them [businesses] in

the direction they need,” Prough said. “I remember a time when somebody

wanted me to change the lock to their engine compartment in the rear of

their car because they thought there were people in there spraying her

car with chemicals.”

LOOKING FORWARD

Prough enjoys what he does and said it has changed his perspective of

the business world. The job is seldom dull, he said, because of the

people he works with and the diversity of the tasks.

“My long-term goal is to finish studying business,” he said. “But for

now, what I do is interesting enough. It’s a new page every day.”