When I was in graduate school I interviewed the head of customer service for one of Capital One's call centers. The interview has stuck with me for all these years. We sat in his office and talked about all kinds of things. Near the end of the interview he stood and in a somewhat theatrical way walked over to the window of his office and pulled up the venetian blinds revealing a view across the call center. Two hundred plus cubicles stretching out it that mind distorting infinite horizon pattern. He sighed, he waited, he said, "You see --- we can teach them how to work the call system, we can teach them the products, we can teach them how to sell the products, the one thing we can't teach them is manners."
Having a backgound in jewelry/metalsmithing skills has made a huge difference in my ability to adjust and repair frames. I thought that everyone could handle a little screwdriver until I was teaching someone repairs.
If you have that skill set and you don't mind teaching there are quite a few people looking for soldering - metal repair classes. I would think you could do a series of TH-cam videos and get some great response. I'd certainly push people your way! Now when I get those questions I have nowhere to send them. John
@@LaramyKOptical I've taught quite a few workshops in chasing and repousse but never done it by video. I recommend people start with th-cam.com/users/RioGrande1944 for solid info on TH-cam. An in-person workshop is often best for the foundation skills. I recommend workshops at craft schools like Touchstone Center for Crafts in PA, John C. Campbell Folk School in NC, Penland School of Crafts in NC, Arrowmont School of Crafts in Gatlinburg and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. The New Approach School for Jewelers in Tennessee also has a great reputation for fine jewelry skills.
Hello Laramy, I'm an Optician and I liked from the first day, now I have in this career for about + 25 years. but I always learn something...thank you...
Costco is the best run optical department I've worked at so far. They hire LDO's or serious apprentices only, so the staff is more skilled than any place I've worked (11 years optical). The pay and benefits are really good. It's slammed right now (end of year) but still challenging and rewarding. The other two skills that were missed are: 1) The ability to learn difficult and convoluted older software for entering purchases as quickly as possible, and 2) The ability to become familiar with the mosh pit of confusion that we call vision insurance. Opticianry can be learned over time, but the software and processes and insurance have been the most trying. When the customer wants to know exactly what everything costs after various frames and lenses and insurance print outs, and then walks away because $50 total is too much...... 😞 You just have to shrug some things off and move on to the next friendly face 🙂
So glad to hear you find the Costco experience a good one. When I left optical for a few years and we were Costco members my wife actually got a few pairs from them and our experience was a good one. Costco does seem to run consistently high on those "best places to work" lists. That video very, very deliberately didn't mention "skills" at all. It was about attitude not aptitude. Keep your eyes on this page for an upcoming video: What Makes A Great Optician, or something like that. In fact we have a 3-part series on the working life of the optician you should find quite interesting.
I'm so glad I've found your youtube channel. I'm 29, and have been feeling burnt out on the life choices I've made already. I want to change my career and I've been feeling in my heart an optician is the right choice for me. I'm glad I was able to hit all 6 check marks, it game me so much more confidence! I haven't become a member on your website yet, but I fully plan on it at the start of this new year (new year new me lol). So I wanted to know, do the courses on your website teach everything I'd need to know to pass the ABO exam? While my state actually does not have any requirements for becoming an optician, I still have zero knowledge on it and I would like to get certified regardless for more opportunities and in the very likely case I move out of my state.
We’re in the same boat 😪 I just turned 30 and I want to be an optician tech, then move onto ophthalmic photography. I also have absolutely no knowledge of anything relative to the field! 😭 Not even sure if I can do it but we’ll see 🤞🏽🤞🏽
@@riyahworldGood luck! I joined the optician works program at the start of the new year, and at the same time went out on a limb and applied at an eye care clinic for an apprenticeship and somehow I got the job. I start next week, I’m so nervous and excited all in one! I hope everything goes well for you, starting a new career with no knowledge makes it seem daunting but I’m taking it one step at a time. We can do it 👍🏽
Great video, as always! I signed up for your course a couple of years back to study for the ABO-ADV and passed it. I loved learning the fundamentals and all the cool new innovative tech pouring into the field. However, I had to pivot away opticianry as a career because the ROI wasn't worth it. It's not like other professions where more certification or experience is correlated with higher pay or better benefits. The salary range is pretty limited regardless of experience or education. From my experience (in big box retail and private practice), the only way to earn a sustainable living is to move into management, and by then, the duties and responsibilities are far different from that of an optician. I still love the field, but now more as a hobby than anything else.
I started this reply as, "Yeah." But then I started thinking (mistake on my part). I kind of sort of agree with everything except the ROI point. [Let's call that ROEI return on educational investment] Unless the state you work in requires a two-year diploma then the actual I (investment) can be zero or $99/year (OpticianWorks). Decent work for decent pay in a decent work environment. Yeah (there is my yeah) you ain't gonna get rich. But hourly rates in the $20s even lower $30s isn't what I would call horrible for the work. So, yes balancing the actual ROI if you have to pay for college would be a factor. I think otherwise the ROI is actually quite good. It sure beats ditch digging, or working at McDonalds. I could go on for hours here --- and get into dangerous territory but - not every job (even those without any EI) can pay $65,000 year with good benefits. I've always said that one of the best things about being an optician is that it becomes the job you want to make it. And sometimes, like you and I, that means not being an optician at all anymore. Some of us became teachers, then writers then "That Laramy-K Guy On TH-cam." And as I have said before, if you were in college AP courses in high school, strong in math, took your SATs and scored well - well then opticianry probably isn't anything you would be looking at. I don't think the guidance counselor is saying, "I don't know Jake, sure there is engineering, computer sciences and law, but have you ever considered becoming an optician?" I'll shut up now. ;-) John
@@LaramyKOptical 100% agree with all points! I started my optical journey in SoCal. The state is unregulated in that as long as you have an ABOC, you can apply for the state spectacle dispensing license. But the naturally high cost of living negated any savings from not having to go through an official education. I have since then relocated to NV. The pay for opticians here is a ways higher, but so are the licensing requirements (it might be up there with NY and NJ with how stringent the reqs are). You are absolutely right about its what you want to make it. I don't regret having my first career as an optician. I've learned quite a lot of transferrable soft and hard skills (many on this very channel). And I was able to pivot into my current career (talent development) because of my networks in the optical field. That being said, sometimes I do miss working with my hands (nothing like grooving the perfect lens; it ain't much, but its honest work haha).
@@anthonyz1556 Sometimes The Grateful Dead say it best... "What a long strange trip its been." It sure has led me to some interesting places. Certainly some highs and some lows in there. John
I mean the pay is good $20-30/hr most construction workers are on the $30 range. And doctors, lawyers, and engineers make probably $100+/hr. And it beats working at a warehouse or restaurant making $15+/hr.
In some ways me too. I had a good run out there. Around 17 years total spent in the trenches with only a handful of serious bumps in the road. Another 2.5 teaching opticianry. Now 8 years with Laramy-K OpticianWorks. Sure are a lot of worse things to be doing - I know because I've done a bunch of them. True Story: I was a courier for FedEx. Damn good job. But I was living in Maine at the time. Good job but a really hard job too. I realized that I wasn't going to be doing that when I was 50 and started to look for something else. I happened to get the "in city" route for a week so every day I'd take my lunch break and go in the Augusta library and grab the Occupational Outlook Handbook. (This was 100 years before the internets.) I literally went through it page by page until I found optician. The rest as they say is history.
Thank you so much for making this video. I'm coming out of it feeling...fairly confident. I am impatient in some regards but also have had customers who I have had stick around for an hour or more just to receive compliments when I was working with graduation regalia. They drove my fellow workers nuts, so they'd pass them off to me. So that seems a good sign. As for fashion, I have ZERO sense of fashion. Though, to be fair to myself, I don't try to follow trends. But I definitely could learn and keep up with it if there was a reason (like a career). So overall, I've come out of this feeling I should keep looking into it.
Feel free to use it as you like. Heck we'll send you the video file if you need it. From what I see on social media and find when I'm out and about we could really use a screening tool of some kind. John
@@MariaGarcia-17 depends! I’ve worked in the Bay Area and LA in California and I worked in mid-range shops and made $19 an hour right out the gate with full benefits and no degree but then I moved to a high income area and make about $25 an hour with okay benefits. But I get free luxury brand frames and top shelf lens options so that’s really nice. People with a medical background or a degree make more. I couldn’t afford school without crazy loans so I’m taking a bit longer than I would like but the job is nice! Higher income area (tech $) isn’t commission but people are oddly nicer and it’s less stress overall. Great hours too. You’re able to leave work at work and then go home lol. After working years in the bar and restaurant industry that can be a nice change. (Tho I won’t lie I super miss tips sometimes 😅) Edit: if you’re good at data entry, basic math, some digital art and nimble tasks (beading, etc…the screw repairs often feel like a beading/sewing project lol). And like he said^^ patience is key! Other than our manager, I’m the only optician in our smaller more upscale shop. Sometimes I get back to back orders that take about 20 minute averages. Other times I get a professional wanting to max out an FSA account with several luxury pairs (progressive, reading, SV distance for tv, etc) and then a kid comes in running around and super cute and excited and then an unplanned walk in repair comes in at the same time-it gets hectic 😅
My dad owned a surfacing lab for years. When he sold the business, I started working on the front lines in an optical store. I did NOT like it. I'm still in the optical biz, just transferred to the sales/marketing end. I like it so much better!
Unlike you I don't think many people understand that working in an optical lab and working the front lines really have absolutely nothing to do with each other. If you pulled the best of the best from either and tossed them in the other's job they wouldn't even know where to begin. Glad you found your happy place. John
"Can you work with people?" To put it not-so-nicely, "Can you handle the occasional dumbass/rude customer without loosing your temper/punching them in the throat?
This misses the whole point of great vocational education and training. Giving people the opportunity to be fully supported, nurtured, mentored and developed in their skills is the most important. That is why I taught opticianry (optical mechanics/technicians and optical dispensing) for so many years after many years of experience prior in real world industry and private practice. People are amazing at learning given the right opportunity and support.
I'm glad you found teaching opticianry rewarding. I've been doing it for 10.5 years now. 4 million+ people, 44.8K followers on TH-cam alone. I think I know what I want my message to be. I believe I have covered the value of vocational education in many of the other videos and on the website. I am after all the product of a vocational program. John
If you have to complete some college program to work as an optician because of where you live, then yes (sort of). If no college degree is required then it really and truly is elementary school arithmetic. As I say in about 20 videos I'm not any good with math at all but I managed to be a pretty good optician. And even if college math and algebra 1 is required worse things have happened in a day. The daily working life of an optician has little to no math and calculators. John
When I was in graduate school I interviewed the head of customer service for one of Capital One's call centers.
The interview has stuck with me for all these years.
We sat in his office and talked about all kinds of things.
Near the end of the interview he stood and in a somewhat theatrical way walked over to the window of his office and pulled up the venetian blinds revealing a view across the call center.
Two hundred plus cubicles stretching out it that mind distorting infinite horizon pattern.
He sighed, he waited, he said, "You see --- we can teach them how to work the call system, we can teach them the products, we can teach them how to sell the products, the one thing we can't teach them is manners."
Having a backgound in jewelry/metalsmithing skills has made a huge difference in my ability to adjust and repair frames. I thought that everyone could handle a little screwdriver until I was teaching someone repairs.
If you have that skill set and you don't mind teaching there are quite a few people looking for soldering - metal repair classes. I would think you could do a series of TH-cam videos and get some great response. I'd certainly push people your way! Now when I get those questions I have nowhere to send them. John
@@LaramyKOptical I've taught quite a few workshops in chasing and repousse but never done it by video. I recommend people start with th-cam.com/users/RioGrande1944 for solid info on TH-cam.
An in-person workshop is often best for the foundation skills. I recommend workshops at craft schools like Touchstone Center for Crafts in PA, John C. Campbell Folk School in NC, Penland School of Crafts in NC, Arrowmont School of Crafts in Gatlinburg and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. The New Approach School for Jewelers in Tennessee also has a great reputation for fine jewelry skills.
Hello Laramy, I'm an Optician and I liked from the first day, now I have in this career for about + 25 years. but I always learn something...thank you...
Costco is the best run optical department I've worked at so far. They hire LDO's or serious apprentices only, so the staff is more skilled than any place I've worked (11 years optical). The pay and benefits are really good. It's slammed right now (end of year) but still challenging and rewarding. The other two skills that were missed are: 1) The ability to learn difficult and convoluted older software for entering purchases as quickly as possible, and 2) The ability to become familiar with the mosh pit of confusion that we call vision insurance. Opticianry can be learned over time, but the software and processes and insurance have been the most trying. When the customer wants to know exactly what everything costs after various frames and lenses and insurance print outs, and then walks away because $50 total is too much...... 😞 You just have to shrug some things off and move on to the next friendly face 🙂
So glad to hear you find the Costco experience a good one. When I left optical for a few years and we were Costco members my wife actually got a few pairs from them and our experience was a good one. Costco does seem to run consistently high on those "best places to work" lists.
That video very, very deliberately didn't mention "skills" at all. It was about attitude not aptitude.
Keep your eyes on this page for an upcoming video: What Makes A Great Optician, or something like that. In fact we have a 3-part series on the working life of the optician you should find quite interesting.
I'm so glad I've found your youtube channel. I'm 29, and have been feeling burnt out on the life choices I've made already. I want to change my career and I've been feeling in my heart an optician is the right choice for me. I'm glad I was able to hit all 6 check marks, it game me so much more confidence!
I haven't become a member on your website yet, but I fully plan on it at the start of this new year (new year new me lol).
So I wanted to know, do the courses on your website teach everything I'd need to know to pass the ABO exam? While my state actually does not have any requirements for becoming an optician, I still have zero knowledge on it and I would like to get certified regardless for more opportunities and in the very likely case I move out of my state.
You will learn the answers to all those questions as you work through the website. In the meantime read All About Opticians and the website FAQ. John
We’re in the same boat 😪 I just turned 30 and I want to be an optician tech, then move onto ophthalmic photography. I also have absolutely no knowledge of anything relative to the field! 😭 Not even sure if I can do it but we’ll see 🤞🏽🤞🏽
@@riyahworldGood luck! I joined the optician works program at the start of the new year, and at the same time went out on a limb and applied at an eye care clinic for an apprenticeship and somehow I got the job. I start next week, I’m so nervous and excited all in one!
I hope everything goes well for you, starting a new career with no knowledge makes it seem daunting but I’m taking it one step at a time. We can do it 👍🏽
@@lndigenousWhat!! That’s amazing! Congratulations and thank you so much!!! 🤞🏽🤞🏽🙏🏽
Same. I would love to be an Optician as well. I am also 29 yrs old. 😊❤
Great video, as always! I signed up for your course a couple of years back to study for the ABO-ADV and passed it. I loved learning the fundamentals and all the cool new innovative tech pouring into the field. However, I had to pivot away opticianry as a career because the ROI wasn't worth it. It's not like other professions where more certification or experience is correlated with higher pay or better benefits. The salary range is pretty limited regardless of experience or education.
From my experience (in big box retail and private practice), the only way to earn a sustainable living is to move into management, and by then, the duties and responsibilities are far different from that of an optician.
I still love the field, but now more as a hobby than anything else.
I started this reply as, "Yeah." But then I started thinking (mistake on my part). I kind of sort of agree with everything except the ROI point. [Let's call that ROEI return on educational investment] Unless the state you work in requires a two-year diploma then the actual I (investment) can be zero or $99/year (OpticianWorks). Decent work for decent pay in a decent work environment. Yeah (there is my yeah) you ain't gonna get rich. But hourly rates in the $20s even lower $30s isn't what I would call horrible for the work. So, yes balancing the actual ROI if you have to pay for college would be a factor. I think otherwise the ROI is actually quite good. It sure beats ditch digging, or working at McDonalds. I could go on for hours here --- and get into dangerous territory but - not every job (even those without any EI) can pay $65,000 year with good benefits. I've always said that one of the best things about being an optician is that it becomes the job you want to make it. And sometimes, like you and I, that means not being an optician at all anymore. Some of us became teachers, then writers then "That Laramy-K Guy On TH-cam." And as I have said before, if you were in college AP courses in high school, strong in math, took your SATs and scored well - well then opticianry probably isn't anything you would be looking at. I don't think the guidance counselor is saying, "I don't know Jake, sure there is engineering, computer sciences and law, but have you ever considered becoming an optician?" I'll shut up now. ;-) John
@@LaramyKOptical 100% agree with all points! I started my optical journey in SoCal. The state is unregulated in that as long as you have an ABOC, you can apply for the state spectacle dispensing license. But the naturally high cost of living negated any savings from not having to go through an official education. I have since then relocated to NV. The pay for opticians here is a ways higher, but so are the licensing requirements (it might be up there with NY and NJ with how stringent the reqs are).
You are absolutely right about its what you want to make it. I don't regret having my first career as an optician. I've learned quite a lot of transferrable soft and hard skills (many on this very channel). And I was able to pivot into my current career (talent development) because of my networks in the optical field.
That being said, sometimes I do miss working with my hands (nothing like grooving the perfect lens; it ain't much, but its honest work haha).
@@anthonyz1556 Sometimes The Grateful Dead say it best... "What a long strange trip its been." It sure has led me to some interesting places. Certainly some highs and some lows in there. John
I mean the pay is good $20-30/hr most construction workers are on the $30 range. And doctors, lawyers, and engineers make probably $100+/hr.
And it beats working at a warehouse or restaurant making $15+/hr.
i just passed my ABDO exam Thanks for the help
Sometimes I wonder how lucky I was aquire this profession...truly
In some ways me too. I had a good run out there. Around 17 years total spent in the trenches with only a handful of serious bumps in the road. Another 2.5 teaching opticianry. Now 8 years with Laramy-K OpticianWorks. Sure are a lot of worse things to be doing - I know because I've done a bunch of them. True Story: I was a courier for FedEx. Damn good job. But I was living in Maine at the time. Good job but a really hard job too. I realized that I wasn't going to be doing that when I was 50 and started to look for something else. I happened to get the "in city" route for a week so every day I'd take my lunch break and go in the Augusta library and grab the Occupational Outlook Handbook. (This was 100 years before the internets.) I literally went through it page by page until I found optician. The rest as they say is history.
Thank you so much for making this video. I'm coming out of it feeling...fairly confident. I am impatient in some regards but also have had customers who I have had stick around for an hour or more just to receive compliments when I was working with graduation regalia. They drove my fellow workers nuts, so they'd pass them off to me. So that seems a good sign. As for fashion, I have ZERO sense of fashion. Though, to be fair to myself, I don't try to follow trends. But I definitely could learn and keep up with it if there was a reason (like a career). So overall, I've come out of this feeling I should keep looking into it.
I'm already trying to figure out how to require people to watch this before applying on indeed!
Feel free to use it as you like. Heck we'll send you the video file if you need it. From what I see on social media and find when I'm out and about we could really use a screening tool of some kind. John
Too late I'm already one lol
LOL
is the money good?
@@MariaGarcia-17 It depends where you work & how much experience you have. I live in LA & majority of these opticians make about $20-30 an hour here.
@@MariaGarcia-17 depends! I’ve worked in the Bay Area and LA in California and I worked in mid-range shops and made $19 an hour right out the gate with full benefits and no degree but then I moved to a high income area and make about $25 an hour with okay benefits. But I get free luxury brand frames and top shelf lens options so that’s really nice. People with a medical background or a degree make more. I couldn’t afford school without crazy loans so I’m taking a bit longer than I would like but the job is nice! Higher income area (tech $) isn’t commission but people are oddly nicer and it’s less stress overall. Great hours too. You’re able to leave work at work and then go home lol. After working years in the bar and restaurant industry that can be a nice change. (Tho I won’t lie I super miss tips sometimes 😅)
Edit: if you’re good at data entry, basic math, some digital art and nimble tasks (beading, etc…the screw repairs often feel like a beading/sewing project lol). And like he said^^ patience is key! Other than our manager, I’m the only optician in our smaller more upscale shop. Sometimes I get back to back orders that take about 20 minute averages. Other times I get a professional wanting to max out an FSA account with several luxury pairs (progressive, reading, SV distance for tv, etc) and then a kid comes in running around and super cute and excited and then an unplanned walk in repair comes in at the same time-it gets hectic 😅
My dad owned a surfacing lab for years. When he sold the business, I started working on the front lines in an optical store. I did NOT like it. I'm still in the optical biz, just transferred to the sales/marketing end. I like it so much better!
Unlike you I don't think many people understand that working in an optical lab and working the front lines really have absolutely nothing to do with each other. If you pulled the best of the best from either and tossed them in the other's job they wouldn't even know where to begin. Glad you found your happy place. John
Hahah I’m glad I passed the ABO a month ago, no stress 😎
Congratulations Marlene! Any study tips?! Do you have study guide or workbook recommendations?
Love this test..thanks so much! I checked all yeses 😅
Translation and Summary; would you be a food server at a restaurant?
"Can you work with people?" To put it not-so-nicely, "Can you handle the occasional dumbass/rude customer without loosing your temper/punching them in the throat?
Can you?
Finished degree and one year working experience , I wish I could turn back time and choose something else instead
Would watching this first have helped you at all?
Or in other words - share with others what you found you don't like about it. Thanks
YES!
cool vid; got 6.... at first i had some no's but after careful self examinatio i came to realise i am one coolio dude
This misses the whole point of great vocational education and training. Giving people the opportunity to be fully supported, nurtured, mentored and developed in their skills is the most important. That is why I taught opticianry (optical mechanics/technicians and optical dispensing) for so many years after many years of experience prior in real world industry and private practice. People are amazing at learning given the right opportunity and support.
I'm glad you found teaching opticianry rewarding. I've been doing it for 10.5 years now. 4 million+ people, 44.8K followers on TH-cam alone. I think I know what I want my message to be. I believe I have covered the value of vocational education in many of the other videos and on the website. I am after all the product of a vocational program. John
Of course I wanna be
Missing point: "do you love metric system?"
LOL OK I think I'd put that on the 2nd list but as they say in the UK - "That's a fair cop." John
I’m a new apprentice. 51 years old. Scared to death, but answered yes to all 6!!
OpticianWorks.com the pill to bring on the chill. You got this.
@@LaramyKOptical thank you!
why did i just get jumpscared 4:47
A question my career choice so often 😂 I am a glutton for punishment.
I hope you love math!
If you have to complete some college program to work as an optician because of where you live, then yes (sort of). If no college degree is required then it really and truly is elementary school arithmetic. As I say in about 20 videos I'm not any good with math at all but I managed to be a pretty good optician. And even if college math and algebra 1 is required worse things have happened in a day. The daily working life of an optician has little to no math and calculators. John