a career in the optical field

can you make a living working as optician not having to work a partime job to make ends meet in LA County?

Try doing some searches on the Indeed Salary Search (www.indeed.com/salary). You can search job titles (making sure the "search job titles only" box is checked), skills and locations.

Here's one I did for Opticians in Los Angeles:
www.indeed.com/salary?q1=optician&l1=Los+Angeles%2C+CA&tm=1

angie in Los Angeles, California said: can you make a living working as optician not having to work a partime job to make ends meet in LA County?

No you can't in California period and I make top in the field.
Thankless job working usually for low paying docs. I love it but
get out while you still can. Save yourself and your family.

angie in Los Angeles, California said: can you make a living working as optician not having to work a partime job to make ends meet in LA County?

I work 3 jobs in optical field. That's 1 fulltime and 2 part time jobs. I live in S.F bay area. I'm good at what I do too. I'm not just another Lenscrafter reject either. I do quality lab work and dispensing.
I make pretty decent money but still not enough to even buy a house or condo. Definately not enough to support a family.

you know unfortunately here in California, our Optometrists and MD's make higher than any other state, but they pay the lowest salary to qualified opticians. i have been doing this since 1994 and i am at the peak of where you can be as an optician.. i mean i am doing optical management for group practices and i make about $25.00 dollars an hour.. with almost 15 years of experience..

i find it hard 2 imagine that opticians who claim they love what they do would discourage someone from coming into this field based on their experience.i have been in this biz since 1984,what i did to make myself valuable was learning and mastering every aspect of optics.from pulling a lens blank b4 generating 2 putting a pair of glasses on a cust face.i reached $35.00 back in 99 b4 i decided 2 open my own store.your salary and bonuses can increase drastically if u really care about what u do to make your cust happy,yes u can make a good living in this biz.....

You make $25 an hour and you crying about it? Man, you got major issues! In today's world....if you're making $14/hr and above, consider yourself lucky!

Jay, Jay, Jay; tsk, tsk, tsk!!! Don't you know how big a difference there is between $25.00 in California and $25.00 in Michigan???!!! REALLY!!!

francois aboc ncle in Pasadena, California said: i find it hard 2 imagine that opticians who claim they love what they do would discourage someone from coming into this field based on their experience.i have been in this biz since 1984,what i did to make myself valuable was learning and mastering every aspect of optics.from pulling a lens blank b4 generating 2 putting a pair of glasses on a cust face.i reached $35.00 back in 99 b4 i decided 2 open my own store.your salary and bonuses can increase drastically if u really care about what u do to make your cust happy,yes u can make a good living in this biz.....

Not anymore, I'm afraid. The company culture is so anti- optician, and they think that their automated systems fulfill the role that opticians used to fill. They don't. We can't even ask for a specific base curve, vertex distance or oc above seg. I had a cust service person from the lab tell me I couldn't request a pd that is 5 mm above center ou because I would be "prescribing peri.. pr.. perisimmm" and "that's not allowed."

And they are producing crap. 3 week turnaround times and you receive something that is not dispensable. Then you are pressured to dispense it anyway.

We do start our own businesses but none of them last long in the face of a pair of 58 dollar eyeglasses. The Walmarts and the wholesale clubs have undercut all the competition to a degree that you can't survive and they have brought up everything. We make good salaries in NJ and that's the only thing left that is attractive about the job but they are working hard at trimming them in every way. We are nothing but sales puppets and if someone wants to do sales, they can make a LOT more money doing that. No recommendation here!

I have been in the optical field for almost 30 years and if there is one thing I have learned oveer the years is that, unless you own a very high end optical boutique in a prime area like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or have a outstanding speicality, you will not make a great living in it, you may do OK and make a fair income depending on who you work for and your experience in the field but you can never be rich as an optician working for someone else.

hey Scott,
i really don't know what parts of ca you have worked, so i am not gonna judge your knowledge of this business, but it seems to me like you are sayng that an optician makes more than a person who owns their own optical store.let me know who is paying that kind of money so i can close my store and go work for them. have you heard of Crenshaw Blvd in LA, well i know store that is not high end that grosses over $i00,000 per month and i know several other stores that gross over $50,000 monthly some with only two employees. i have been in the business almost 25yrs myself and i finally opened my own store and there is nothing more rewardng than making money for yourself. a friend of mine has his store in a swapmeet and still grosses over $10,000 per month. if you open a store it will not just up and take off because you've been in the business for a long time,and you know so many people, it takes time and effort. marketing, establishing yourself in the area where you open by having the people of that area trust you it takes time, but the rewards are great.

Anyone know whos hiring in Los Angeles or in the county for optical dispensing?

OinNJ in Asbury Park, New Jersey said: We can't even ask for a specific base curve, vertex distance or oc above seg. I had a cust service person from the lab tell me I couldn't request a pd that is 5 mm above center ou because I would be "prescribing peri.. pr.. perisimmm" and "that's not allowed."

Actually if your a licensed optician you are allowed and supposed to make sugestions for the manufacturing labs if you don't have a lab on site. Not all patients are able to adapt to different base-curve and if the oc or p.d. aren't fitted right then there's no reason for them to wear the glasses. But your salary is going to depend on your experience, knowledge, area, education, employer and if you live in a license state or a none license state.

OinNJ in Asbury Park, New Jersey said: We can't even ask for a specific base curve, vertex distance or oc above seg. I had a cust service person from the lab tell me I couldn't request a pd that is 5 mm above center ou because I would be "prescribing peri.. pr.. perisimmm" and "that's not allowed."

I thought NJ was a licensed state? Actually if your a licensed optician you are allowed and supposed to make sugestions for the manufacturing labs if you don't have a lab on site. Not all patients are able to adapt to different base-curve and if the oc or p.d. aren't fitted right then there's no reason for them to wear the glasses. But your salary is going to depend on your experience, knowledge, area, education, employer and if you live in a license state or a none license state.

This field is full of people without knowlege of loyalty. I have never experienced such a "cut throat" field. I am competetive, and climbed the corporate ladder in the late '80s which became an addiction to optics. Since moving on, as we all do in this field, I have never found another optical job in Oregon that has paid. I really wish that the optical business was more professional. I have gone back to law school now. Honestly, get out before you get hurt!

One last comment. I did love the optical business. I just did not love the OD's and the DO's wives!The last job that I had in Oregon was in Newberg working for an MD running his optical shop~nice little town. His wife wanted to be a part of the business. However,she couldn't quite make it in often and when she did it was always on her "off the meds day"! When the doc "let me go" he cried like a baby. His wife made hime fire me because, according to the doc, she was threatened by my ability in the optical field. OK, hold on here it comes~the real reason in her words to the staff~I was TOO THIN! Coincidentally, a tech of 5 years became unforgivably thin and was fired for the same reason. Due to Patty's (doc wife)lack of ability to reduce her "junk in the trunk" another optician bit the dust. No more valley optical crazy days!

I have been an Optician since 1987 and you could make really good money in New York. I worked in several Madison Avenue boutiques and some store managers like myself were making almost $100,000 in the 1990s. Yes, it was ridiculous money and we all knew each other and had worked together at one time or other. In fact, my friend managed the store of my biggest rival and we would have lunch together 3 times a week. Of course that did not mean I was not always plotting ways to drive his company out of business. It was fun! Not anymore and the store owners are not doing much better. They are all complaining about not being able to find good help with skills anymore. The salaries have dropped to the point that its a joke. Even here...you will be lucky to get $50-60,000 and thats with all my sales awards and experience. I used to supervise 3 opticians, now I supervise 2 frame stylists. A friend of mine worked for a MD for 14 years running his lab and cutting all the jobs with a pt assistant he was training for 2 years. Guess what happened? He saved $4.00 an hour by letting him go and then had the nerve to call him when there were problems.Get out before its too late to switch careers. I kept thinking it would get better but it has not and I think it never will.

I've recently completed an online optical assisting course and I'm very interested in getting into the field. My problem is that I took my resume to numerous doctors and optical retail shops but didn't receive any interest. I figure my lack of work experience is the problem. How do I go about getting experience as an optical assistant? I would appreciate feedback from anyone in the field.

Susan in Merrillville, Indiana said: I've recently completed an online optical assisting course and I'm very interested in getting into the field. My problem is that I took my resume to numerous doctors and optical retail shops but didn't receive any interest. I figure my lack of work experience is the problem. How do I go about getting experience as an optical assistant ? I would appreciate feedback from anyone in the field.

You'd probably be better off becoming a licensed optician. Complete an associates degree and everything like that