Optical laboratory technician vs lens maker

The differences between optical laboratory technicians and lens makers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an optical laboratory technician and a lens maker. Additionally, a lens maker has an average salary of $39,136, which is higher than the $32,926 average annual salary of an optical laboratory technician.

The top three skills for an optical laboratory technician include equipment maintenance, prescription glasses and dexterity. The most important skills for a lens maker are hand tools, FDA, and ISO.

Optical laboratory technician vs lens maker overview

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Lens Maker
Yearly salary	$32,926	$39,136
Hourly rate	$15.83	$18.82
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	40,155	7,022
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 30%	High School Diploma, 27%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	2	2

Optical laboratory technician vs lens maker salary

Optical laboratory technicians and lens makers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Lens Maker
Average salary	$32,926	$39,136
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $42,000	Between $25,000 And $60,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between optical laboratory technician and lens maker education

There are a few differences between an optical laboratory technician and a lens maker in terms of educational background:

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Lens Maker
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 30%	High School Diploma, 27%
Most common major	Business	Information Technology
Most common college	-	-

Optical laboratory technician vs lens maker demographics

Here are the differences between optical laboratory technicians' and lens makers' demographics:

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Lens Maker
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 54.9% Female, 45.1%	Male, 61.1% Female, 38.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.9% Asian, 9.3% White, 56.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 10.0% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between optical laboratory technician and lens maker duties and responsibilities

Optical laboratory technician example responsibilities.

Manage filing, scanning & shredding important medical documents in office due to HIPAA privacy laws.
Maintain coating quality using adhesion testing and spectrophotometers, and manage coating hues and reflectance adjustments.
Perform in house testing, controls, correlations, proficiency testing, NCS, PVDT, and EKG.
Transmit orders via POS to the lab.
Perform EKGS by placement of electrodes and gathering the EKG readings.
Verify orders, answer phones, and ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations.

Lens maker example responsibilities.

Serve as an internal auditor on a team form to work towards a goal of achieving ISO [] certification.
Ensure compliance of standard operating procedures, FDA and regulatory standards.
Operate CNC machine to produce, inspect, clean and process contact lens.
Machine detail aerospace parts when CNC machining operations cannot effectively complete.
Calculate requirements, using basic math, geometry and trigonometry.

Optical laboratory technician vs lens maker skills

Common optical laboratory technician skills

Equipment Maintenance, 59%
Prescription Glasses, 9%
Dexterity, 5%
Data Entry, 5%
Patients, 4%
Inventory Control, 3%

Common lens maker skills

Hand Tools, 48%
FDA, 23%
ISO, 19%
APL, 11%

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Optical Laboratory Technician
Optical Laboratory Technician vs Lens Maker

Updated January 8, 2025

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