Optical technician vs bench optician

The differences between optical technicians and bench opticians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a bench optician has an average salary of $45,915, which is higher than the $36,908 average annual salary of an optical technician.

Optical technician vs bench optician overview

	Optical Technician	Bench Optician
Yearly salary	$36,908	$45,915
Hourly rate	$17.74	$22.07
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	29,866	4,723
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 32%	High School Diploma, 50%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	-

Optical technician vs bench optician salary

Optical technicians and bench opticians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Optical Technician	Bench Optician
Average salary	$36,908	$45,915
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $54,000	Between $18,000 And $117,000
Highest paying City	Hayward, CA	-
Highest paying state	Alaska	-
Best paying company	AMETEK	-
Best paying industry	Technology	-

Differences between optical technician and bench optician education

There are a few differences between an optical technician and a bench optician in terms of educational background:

	Optical Technician	Bench Optician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 32%	High School Diploma, 50%
Most common major	Business	Medical Technician
Most common college	University of Minnesota - Twin Cities	Duke University

Optical technician vs bench optician demographics

Here are the differences between optical technicians' and bench opticians' demographics:

	Optical Technician	Bench Optician
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 36.8% Female, 63.2%	Male, 42.9% Female, 57.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.5% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 18.9% Asian, 9.1% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 8.1% White, 69.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between optical technician and bench optician duties and responsibilities

Optical technician example responsibilities.

Manage high-end optical for private optometry office.
Manage payroll to correspond with allot labor allowance.
Maintain coating quality using adhesion testing and spectrophotometers, and manage coating hues and reflectance adjustments.
Develop and dispense RX eyewear.
Train associates to acquire and retain ABO certificate.
Generate (cut) prescription RX into lens blanks.

Bench optician example responsibilities.

Manage appointments and appointment reminders, checking in/out patients, check insurance eligibility.
Work with multiple optometrists to solve patient issues including inaccurate optical measurements, lens adaptations, and overall patient satisfaction.
Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.

Optical technician vs bench optician skills

Common optical technician skills

Patients, 86%
Chrome, 9%
Dexterity, 1%
CNC, 0%
Math, 0%
Optical Components, 0%

Common bench optician skills

Optical Technician vs. similar jobs

Optical Technician related careers

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Optical Technician vs Bench Optician

Updated January 8, 2025

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