Optical Lab Technician Job Description

Optical Laboratory Technicians: An Overview

An optical technician needs to be skilled in the art of written and spoken communication, customer handling abilities, and listening to customers, paying attention to detail, comprehension of customer requests and taking appropriate action. Community colleges, Vocational schools and technical schools offer associate degree programs that are geared to training people to become optical technicians. The optical laboratory technician certificate program prepares students for entry level positions independent, retail or wholesale laboratories.

Basic and advanced programs last for six months to a year. The courses are made up of class and lab work. The associate of applied science in optical technology program provides instruction in mechanical and theoretical optical technology.

The course prepares students to work in the field of precision optics. Students learn how to develop skills necessary for edging, curve generating, blocking, process control and testing methods related to their field. The use of automation equipment, tooling, testing and quality assessment are some of the skills that can be used.

Students are given the chance to learn about industry specific equipment such as autocollimators, spectrometers, instructional interferometers and computer numerical control technology. The Monroe community college offers a certificate program in optical systems technology that prepares students for work in optical activities that include quality control, testing and production. The optical technician can attend an optical laboratory technician program.

The course covers a lot of topics, including the basics of management, the principles of management, and the basics of optical theory. The certificate program is for 12 months and the associate degree program is for 24 months. Ophthalmologists use optical technicians to make lens in accordance with their prescriptions.

Optical Laboratory Technicians

An optical laboratory technician is responsible for crafting eyeglasses and other types of optical lens. Most optical techs are high school graduates and complete their training at work in the lab, although some may seek additional preparation and certification through a Vocational college. The person who takes the patient's prescription and matches the corrective lens to the frames is called a technician.

The patient is then given the finished eyeglasses for a final adjustment. The tech is responsible for maintaining the equipment in the optical lab. An optical laboratory technician is usually part of a larger team working at a retail store or an eye doctor office.

In some cases, the lens production may take place in a separate lab with several techs filling prescriptions and sending them to one or more offices. The first thing a patient will do when he arrives is to have an appointment with the eye doctor to determine the best corrective lens for his vision problems. The tech will then assemble the patient's eyewear after the doctor has passed the prescription on.

After polishing the lens, the technician will inspect them for scratches and other flaws and then insert the finished lens into the frame. The tech may need to work with different types of frames and rim depending on the patient. The patient will try on the glasses and then have the final fitting.

Optical Lab Technicians

The professionals who work in the optical lab are the ones who know how to make glasses. They work with a number of doctors to address the issues of patients. Obtaining a certificate or a diploma is required in order to get a good position in such job.

There is a need to improve your experience working with specialists. Lab supervisors, osimers, and osimers technicians are some of the people that optical lab technicians work under. Employment settings include optical laboratories, health and personal care stores, and professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers.

They can work on their own. There are at least 27,630 jobs available for such professionals in 2011. The average annual salary for optical lab technicians is $29,920, with the highest being $44,460 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The highest salary can be earned from hospitals. There is no formal training required to become an optical lab technician. If you want to be preferred by practitioners, you will need to get a degree in a field that is related to your work.

Having attended training programs can increase your competency on the job. The skills that can be learned through education and training include cutting, grinding, and edging of lens You will be able to learn about industrial arts and computer technology.

Optical Laboratory Technicians: How Pay and Salary Are They?

Ophthalmological laboratory technicians are skilled craftsmen who turn prescriptions into eyewear. They work in a variety of settings, from clinical to retail, preparing lens for use in eyeglasses and other optical equipment. Training is often done in the workplace.

The technicians spend most of their time in the lab. They have to cut the blank lens to fit the frame. The lens must be ground to the correct prescription either by hand or using automated machinery.

The customer can request a tint or polished lens. The final step is fitting the new glasses into the frames, and then adjusting them to fit the customer perfectly. Retail stores, including many discount and department stores, are the largest employer of optical laboratory technicians.

Some people work in the lab and never see a customer, while others spend a lot of time making sure customers' eyewear is a perfect fit. The other major employer is the non-retail eyewear labs and manufacturers. The offices of ophthalmologists and other physicians have the same number of technicians that produce custom eyewear on a smaller scale.

Most people with a high school diploma or equivalent can become an eye lab technician. Skills are learned on the job, beginning with less- skilled tasks such as marking the lens. Trainingees graduate to more delicate tasks, such as fitting the lens and grinding.

Optical Technicians: What Pay?

There are very few requirements for becoming an optical technician. Most technicians learn their skills in hands-on training. Employers expect technicians to have a high school degree.

Basic skills like marking and blocking will be the first tasks that businesses will start with in the training process. Employers will be looking at a technician's ability to notice minor flaws and their ability to work with their hands during the training process. An optical technician makes an average of $30,000 per year.

The salary for a technician depends on the amount of experience that the technician has and the employer. Some technicians earn less than $20,000 per year while others make more. Most technicians will start their career at the lower end of the salary range and work their way up to the higher end of the range.