How To Become An Optical Engineering Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an optical engineering technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an optical engineering technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.07 an hour? That's $54,224 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 2,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreOptical Engineering TechnicianUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $54,224

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.68%

Asian 11.16%

Black or African American 8.92%

Hispanic or Latino 15.66%

Unknown 4.77%

White 58.81%

Gender

female 18.92%

male 81.08%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Key steps to become an optical engineering technician

Explore optical engineering technician education requirements

Most common optical engineering technician degrees

Bachelor's

42.9 %

Associate

40.8 %

High School Diploma

6.1 %

Start to develop specific optical engineering technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Optical Components	12.86%
Power Meters	12.50%
Optical Alignment	12.03%
MATLAB	10.82%
Test Equipment	8.09%

Research optical engineering technician duties and responsibilities

Manage and distribute cad standards to contributing design consultants and assist with any design issues as necessary.
Assess contractor bid documents and prepare PowerPoint presentations for management by administering proposals to procurement in awarding work to eligible contractors.
Used Orcad schematic capture for hierarchical block diagram system documentation.

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