Photonics Technicians

Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (3)

Lower estimated automation risk

Photonics Engineers
13% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better More jobs
28.9 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Lasers, fiber optics, optical systems, testing, and lab data transfer with engineering credentials.

Nanotechnology Engineering Technologists and Technicians
26% automation risk | Low Risk
16.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Advanced materials, lab equipment, microscopy, precision testing, and process documentation provide a bridge.

Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians
34% automation risk | Low Risk
More jobs
8.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Electronics, test equipment, circuit troubleshooting, components, and engineering documentation overlap strongly.

Compare this job with others
or search for another job
Share your results with friends and family.

Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.3/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

42% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 5 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Photonics Technicians will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Pay & outlook

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other was $77,390 ($37 per hour).

The median annual wage for Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other was 56.3% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other' job openings is expected to rise 1.5% by 2034

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 64,410 people employed as 'Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 2 thousand people are employed as 'Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other'.

People also viewed

Computer Programmers Electrical Engineers Mechanical Engineers Actors Lawyers

What people are saying (0)

Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

Build, install, test, or maintain optical or fiber optic equipment, such as lasers, lenses, or mirrors, using spectrometers, interferometers, or related equipment.

O*NET-SOC code: 17-3029.08