Tom Fitzgerald

I got into Lockpicking the unusual way. Before teaching, I worked in physical penetration testing, which is the polite term for being legally paid to break into buildings. Companies would hire me to test their security by getting past their locks, doors, and systems, then writing up exactly how I did it so they could fix it. Picking locks wasn't a party trick for me. It was the job.What struck me over the years was how completely wrong everyone gets locks. We're taught to trust them with everything we own, yet most of them open in seconds once you understand the simple mechanism inside. The first time you feel a lock give way under your own hands, something clicks, and not just the lock. You never look at a door the same way again. I wanted to give people that moment.So I built an event around it. Every attendee gets a proper lock pick kit and a set of progressively harder padlocks shipped to their door, and I teach the whole group to pick them live, from complete beginner to popping their first lock open, usually within the hour. I host every session personally. I've now taught this to well over ten thousand people, from small teams to huge corporate groups, and that moment of "wait, I actually did it" never gets old for me. It's why I love teaching this far more than I ever expected to.Here's what surprises people most: lockpicking isn't about force or being clever. It's about patience and a light touch. You have to slow down, feel for tiny feedback, and let the lock tell you what it wants. It's genuinely meditative, and it consistently rewards the quietest, most patient person in the room rather than the loudest. I've watched the shy analyst on a team crack the hardest lock while everyone else is still fumbling, and watched their colleagues see them completely differently afterward. That shift is my favourite part of every event.I'm not a chef or an artist. I'm the person who used to break into places for a living, and now I get to teach that skill to your team in the most fun, hands-on hour they'll have all year. Come learn something you'll genuinely never forget.