Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between laser engineers and laser technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a laser engineer, becoming a laser technician takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a laser engineer has an average salary of $85,319, which is higher than the $37,370 average annual salary of a laser technician.
The top three skills for a laser engineer include MATLAB, data collection and labview. The most important skills for a laser technician are patients, customer service, and laser equipment.
| Laser Engineer | Laser Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $85,319 | $37,370 |
| Hourly rate | $41.02 | $17.97 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 4,901 | 24,920 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 43 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
A laser engineer is one who specializes in making and developing laser devices or machines that is for laser purposes. They supervises the laser team in operating and ensuring that all laser-related equipment is functioning well. They can also specialize in doing advanced optics or optic devices. Their responsibilities include the regular monitoring and optimization of laser outputs as well as finding out a reasonable solution on how to handles laser issues that will be arising.
A Laser Technician or photonic technician is a trained professional responsible for operating and keeping the laser equipment in place. An experienced individual knows about running and using laser devices for medical purposes: their responsibility is to assemble, test, recalibrate, and repair laser devices or actual lasers. They have to ensure that all tools and machines are appropriately stored.
Laser engineers and laser technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Laser Engineer | Laser Technician | |
| Average salary | $85,319 | $37,370 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $116,000 | Between $30,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Redwood City, CA | West Fargo, ND |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Booz Allen Hamilton | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a laser engineer and a laser technician in terms of educational background:
| Laser Engineer | Laser Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Physics | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between laser engineers' and laser technicians' demographics:
| Laser Engineer | Laser Technician | |
| Average age | 43 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 94.8% Female, 5.2% | Male, 47.8% Female, 52.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.5% Asian, 18.0% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 7.5% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 6% |