Optical laboratory technician vs surface room floater

The differences between optical laboratory technicians and surface room floaters 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 surface room floater. Additionally, an optical laboratory technician has an average salary of $32,926, which is higher than the $31,769 average annual salary of a surface room floater.

The top three skills for an optical laboratory technician include equipment maintenance, prescription glasses and dexterity. The most important skills for a surface room floater are data entry, , and .

Optical laboratory technician vs surface room floater overview

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Surface Room Floater
Yearly salary	$32,926	$31,769
Hourly rate	$15.83	$15.27
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	40,155	25,690
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 30%	High School Diploma, 47%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	2	2

Optical laboratory technician vs surface room floater salary

Optical laboratory technicians and surface room floaters have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Surface Room Floater
Average salary	$32,926	$31,769
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $42,000	Between $23,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between optical laboratory technician and surface room floater education

There are a few differences between an optical laboratory technician and a surface room floater in terms of educational background:

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Surface Room Floater
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 30%	High School Diploma, 47%
Most common major	Business	Nursing
Most common college	-	-

Optical laboratory technician vs surface room floater demographics

Here are the differences between optical laboratory technicians' and surface room floaters' demographics:

	Optical Laboratory Technician	Surface Room Floater
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 54.9% Female, 45.1%	Male, 48.0% Female, 52.0%
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, 8.4% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 18.8% Asian, 9.4% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between optical laboratory technician and surface room floater 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.

Surface room floater example responsibilities.

Manage facility organization and cleanliness, maximizing the utilization of the facility and the efficiency of athlete's training routines.
Manage facility organization and cleanliness, maximizing the utilization of the facility and the efficiency of athlete's training routines.
Answer incoming calls from physicians and hospital associates requesting copies of radiology images.

Optical laboratory technician vs surface room floater skills

Common optical laboratory technician skills

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

Common surface room floater skills

Data Entry, 100%

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Optical Laboratory Technician
Optical Laboratory Technician vs Surface Room Floater

Updated January 8, 2025

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