Optics Technicians

Employers

Optical grinding and polishing shops provide employment opportunities. Among the largest employers of optical technicians are the space program and weapons-development programs run by the military. Other employment opportunities are available with supplies manufacturing laboratories and manufacturers of optical instruments, such as microscopes, telescopes, binoculars, cameras, and advanced medical equipment.

Optical instruments and applications are found in a wide variety of industries throughout the United States, from aeronautics to data communications to medical research and development. The five states with the highest employment of engineering technicians are California, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The 10 greater metropolitan areas with the highest employment of engineering technicians are Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas; Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Illinois; Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Virginia-North Carolina; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona; San Diego-Carlsbad, California; Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas; New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania; Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan; and Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Massachusetts-New Hampshire.

Starting Out

Many students enrolled in two-year training programs can find jobs through interviews with company recruiters conducted on campus during the second year of their program. Other students find employment through participation in work-study programs while enrolled in school. In many cases, the student's part-time employer will offer full-time work after graduation or provide leads on other possible jobs.

For students who do not find suitable employment in one of these ways, there are some employment agencies that specialize in placing personnel in the optics industry. There are also very active professional associations in the optical, photographic, physical science, and engineering fields (such as The Optical Society) that can be sources of worthwhile job leads. Contact technical societies for advice and help in job hunting. The primary purpose of a technical society is to aid the industry it represents, and there is no better way the society can do this than to attract interested people into the field and help them find a good job.