Skip to content
Singulariki

Medical Appliance Technicians vs Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Medical Appliance Technicians and Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Medical Appliance Technicians Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$47,060
$38,420
Employment · BLS OEWS
11,490
18,740
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
7th pct
15th pct

At a glance

Dimension Medical Appliance Technicians Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians
Median pay $47,060 $38,420
Employment 11,490 18,740
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.7%) About average (+2.3%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 1,500 2,400
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 7th pct Low · 15th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 27th pct · 18% of tasks 16th pct · 14% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No Yes

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Production and Processing, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Critical Thinking, Quality Control Analysis, Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Visualization, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Customer and Personal Service, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Information Ordering, Finger Dexterity, Operations Monitoring, Inductive Reasoning, Manual Dexterity, Speech Recognition, English Language, Mechanical, Control Precision, Multilimb Coordination, Monitoring, Judgment and Decision Making, Written Comprehension.

Specific to Medical Appliance Technicians

  • Troubleshooting
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Speech Clarity
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Design
  • Service Orientation
  • Education and Training
  • Writing

Specific to Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians

  • Mathematics
  • Operation and Control
  • Time Management
  • Selective Attention
  • Administration and Management
  • Category Flexibility
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Perceptual Speed

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Computer aided design CAD software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Word processing software , Medical software .

Specific to Medical Appliance Technicians

Specific to Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Medical Appliance Technicians or Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Medical Appliance Technicians vs Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/medical-appliance-technicians-vs-ophthalmic-laboratory-technicians

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Medical Appliance Technicians vs Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/medical-appliance-technicians-vs-ophthalmic-laboratory-technicians

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-medical-appliance-technicians-vs-ophthalmic-laboratory-technicians,
  title  = {Medical Appliance Technicians vs Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/medical-appliance-technicians-vs-ophthalmic-laboratory-technicians}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.