Light Up Your Future
With Optics WATCH NOW

Ready to Jumpstart Your Career?

Streaming TV. Smartphones. NASA’s James Webb Telescope. All of these innovations are driven by Optics. Working in nearly every modern field, Optics Technicians craft precise components (primarily lenses fashioned out of blocks of glass) that we use today and help us build a smarter, safer tomorrow. Joining this highly in-demand, hands-on industry means making a fulfilling career while making a real impact.

Everyone’s career path to becoming an Optics Technician is different, and that’s what makes this field so unique. It’s a workforce that looks a lot like the world we live in—a melting pot full of people with different backgrounds, vocations, and levels of expertise, all working in a booming industry they’re passionate about.

Get Into Optics

The more you discover about Optics, the more you start to see the mindblowing impact this technology has on our lives. It’s not magic, but it feels like it. From the highest-powered telescopes to the Internet itself to self-flushing toilets, Optics play a bigger role in our lives than most people realize. Ready to dive into how Optics impacts your life?

As Optics Grows, So Will You

Optics is more than just a job. It’s a career you can grow into and build up over time. Technicians have the opportunity to work with scientists and engineers in research, development, design, manufacturing, and quality control as they build the Optical components that power the devices we all use every day. It’s a career that checks all the boxes but never boxes you in.

Purposeful career
Competitive pay
In-demand industry
Room for growth

Who are Optics Technicians?

Anyone with strong hand-eye coordination, attention to detail, and a good work ethic are fit for a career in Optics. The field is an integral part of our everyday lives, and we don’t even notice it. From medicine to defense, becoming an Optics Technician provides a satisfying and ever-growing career path.

​​Optics Technicians fabricate, assemble, and install Optical components into devices such as eyeglasses. But it’s so much more than that! We’re talking telescopes, microscopes, aerial cameras, and grocery scanners. With this skill set, you’ll be in demand for a secure, competitive-paying job!

Jewelry making

Playing music

Fine art

Woodworking

Gardening

Ceramics

Gaming

Carpentry

Building Legos

Athletics

Gaming

Cooking

Building electronics

Visual Arts

Fishing

The Only Prerequisite is Passion

There’s no “one path” to an Optics career, and as a trained technician, there are so many applications for your work, from aeronautics to medicine to entertainment. In Optics, outside experience and passions are welcomed with open arms; it takes multifaceted people to do this multidimensional work.

Learn More

Jimmie S.

Optics Technician & Teaching Assistant

Read Jimmie's Story

Felicity B.

Optics Technician

Read Felicity's Story

Jaiden M.

Optics Technician

Read Jaiden's Story

Sarah H.

Optics Inspector

Read sarah’s story

Optics are having a moment. Rapid growth, accelerated hiring: it’s a field buzzing with opportunity. Whether you’re looking to transition to a new, secure career or for a fulfilling job that feels like your favorite hobby, there’s never been a better time to jump into an Optics Technician Program. Explore Optics training programs below at the community college nearest you.

AmeriCOM: Bringing Optics into Focus

The next generation of Optics techs are jumping into this skyrocketing industry, and the American Center for Optics Manufacturing (AmeriCOM) is helping make it happen. Bringing together colleges, manufacturers, nonprofits, and government agencies, AmeriCOM is building the workforce and ecosystems to ensure this industry continues to thrive for generations to come.

Find Out How

“The more you learn about how Optics are used, the more aware you become of how much it affects our modern day life.”

— Samuel S, Optics Technician

“I am excited to have options about what I can do and where I can go in my career.”

— Katelyn B, Optics Student

“The technician role is fantastic in that you get to be an artisan and a scientist.”

— Kay W, Optics Technician and Student

“I'd like to grow in my knowledge and responsibilities all along the way. The field of Optics will be a great setting to accomplish these things.”

— Martina F, Optics Student

“One of my professors actually helped build the Perseverance rover. He’s touched things that are on another planet. Can’t get much cooler than that.”

— Maxwell C, Optics Student

“The thing that students don’t realize is the breadth of the industry. There’s a wide spectrum of job opportunities within the Optics field."

— Mike P, Technical Associate, Mechanical Engineering and Optics, Monroe Community College