There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an optical technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.03 an hour? That's $31,254 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 5,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many optical technicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, communication skills and customer-service skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an optical technician, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.4% of optical technicians included dexterity, while 9.9% of resumes included optical components, and 8.4% of resumes included cnc. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the optical technician job title. But what industry to start with? Most optical technicians actually find jobs in the technology and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming an optical technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 24.0% of optical technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.6% of optical technicians have master's degrees. Even though some optical technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an optical technician. When we researched the most common majors for an optical technician, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on optical technician resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an optical technician. In fact, many optical technician jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many optical technicians also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or customer service representative.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of optician you might progress to a role such as technician eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title senior technologist.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Randstad Laser Optics Technician Laser Optics Technician | Randstad Randstad | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $31,30501/30/2021 $31,305 |
Ball Corporation Technician Apprentice-Optical Technician Apprentice-Optical | Ball Corporation Ball Corporation | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $36,52301/21/2021 $36,523 |
Ball Corporation/Ball Aerospace Technician Apprentice-Optical Technician Apprentice-Optical | Ball Corporation/Ball Aerospace Ball Corporation/Ball Aerospace | 01/20/2021 01/20/2021 | $36,52301/20/2021 $36,523 |
Randstad Optical Technician Optical Technician | Randstad Randstad | 12/15/2020 12/15/2020 | $33,18312/15/2020 $33,183 |
Randstad Optical Technician Optical Technician | Randstad Randstad | 12/04/2020 12/04/2020 | $32,80812/04/2020 $32,808 |
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming an Optical Technician. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write an Optical Technician Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Optical Technician resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationMinneapolis, MN • Public
Stanford, CA • Private
Durham, NC • Private
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Washington, DC • Private
Evanston, IL • Private
Castine, ME • Public
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Bakersfield, CA • Public
Atlanta, GA • Private
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.4% of optical technicians listed dexterity on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and communication skills are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an optical technician. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Massachusetts, New York, and Maine. Optical technicians make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $39,147. Whereas in Massachusetts and New York, they would average $37,557 and $37,169, respectively. While optical technicians would only make an average of $36,856 in Maine, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Maine
$36,857
Avg. Salary
2. Connecticut
$36,678
Avg. Salary
3. Pennsylvania
$35,125
Avg. Salary
