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Surgical Technologists vs Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Surgical Technologists and Ophthalmic Medical 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.”

Surgical Technologists Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$62,830
$44,080
Employment · BLS OEWS
113,890
76,520
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
5th pct
1st pct

At a glance

Dimension Surgical Technologists Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
Median pay $62,830 $44,080
Employment 113,890 76,520
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.5%) Growing fast (+19.8%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 7,000 12,500
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 5th pct Low · 1st pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 63rd pct · 35% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

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: Oral Comprehension, Monitoring, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry, Speech Recognition, Arm-Hand Steadiness, English Language, Active Listening, Selective Attention, Manual Dexterity, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Coordination, Visual Color Discrimination, Speech Clarity, Education and Training, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Learning Strategies, Social Perceptiveness, Instructing, Service Orientation, Judgment and Decision Making, Written Comprehension, Written Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning.

Specific to Surgical Technologists

  • Operations Monitoring
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Time Management
  • Number Facility
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Operation and Control
  • Equipment Maintenance

Specific to Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

  • Mathematics
  • Writing
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Category Flexibility
  • Far Vision
  • Administrative
  • Control Precision
  • Computers and Electronics

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: Medical software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Word processing software , Electronic mail software .

Specific to Surgical Technologists

Specific to Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Surgical Technologists or Ophthalmic Medical 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. "Surgical Technologists vs Ophthalmic Medical 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/surgical-technologists-vs-ophthalmic-medical-technicians

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Surgical Technologists vs Ophthalmic Medical Technicians. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/surgical-technologists-vs-ophthalmic-medical-technicians

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-surgical-technologists-vs-ophthalmic-medical-technicians,
  title  = {Surgical Technologists vs Ophthalmic Medical 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/surgical-technologists-vs-ophthalmic-medical-technicians}
}

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