The Student Room Group

Salary for Opticians?

Does anyone know a rough salary for starting opticions (i.e. an optometrist qualified from Optometry course)

how long roughly till the salary increases

e.g whats the salary for starting optician, salary for an optician who has been working for e.g 3 years, and an optician who has been working for 5 years plus ++

thanks

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Reply 1
Optometrist
Starting salary - £20,000
Salary with experience - between £25,000 and £40,000
Hospital eye services - from £13,290 to £44,825

PS. This information was sourced from a relable website and salaries are averages of current salaries.
Reply 2
so why such high entry requirements for such a low paid job?
thats the same grades needed as e.g. dentistry.
Reply 3
cherc2005
so why such high entry requirements for such a low paid job?
thats the same grades needed as e.g. dentistry.


The reason is this:

2 years ago you would of been earning upto 70k, before that you could get up to 80k. You can earn about 50k now if you work as a locum, probably with this is... you will find it hard to jump jobs in the same location. Students haven't realised the money is coming down that much thus, the intake of students remains as competitive as ever. Furthermore, the demand is not like it used to be since the flood of new recruits. The salary of an optician is now declining, but the rate of change is also decreasing so a stable 40k per year is what you will get generally.

It's a very interesting job. You could go into research for laser eye surgery and stuff too, earn extra money and it's pretty interesting aswell.
Reply 4
so for someone with expensive taste would you recommend a different career such as business?
e.g. qualifying as an optician in 4 years time... what do you think the prospects are?
Reply 5
cherc2005
so for someone with expensive taste would you recommend a different career such as business?
e.g. qualifying as an optician in 4 years time... what do you think the prospects are?


What grades have you got or what grades are you intending on achieving?

Most optom degrees are 3 years except glasow caledonian. I'm doing audiology instead of optometry, an audiologist can earn up to 69k in the nhs at age 28 providing you start uni at 18. This is similiar to optometry but differs in many aspects. If an audiologist was to work privately then the salary will be increased providing the audiologist is successful and has good money to set themself up. Audiology seems to be the *new* optometry as audiology has only just been advertised in all 8 of the unis prospectuses.
Reply 6
ive just achieved ABB
i applied for optometry because i enjoy science related subjects, and i dont want to do medcine/dentistry.
i do not want to do pharmacy
i want a job with a good salary
what does audiology involve?
so do you think if i chose optometry and qualify from city in 4 years time, the pay wont be that good?
Reply 7
cherc2005
ive just achieved ABB
i applied for optometry because i enjoy science related subjects, and i dont want to do medcine/dentistry.
i do not want to do pharmacy
i want a job with a good salary
what does audiology involve?
so do you think if i chose optometry and qualify from city in 4 years time, the pay wont be that good?


It'll be roughly the same as now, maybe a few thousand less. Audiology is a stressful job to a slight extent and involves working with patients 9am-5pm. It's not competitive at all universities except UCL. It's in clearing at most of the universities at the moment except UCL, Leeds and Aston.

you can read up on audiology on www.aud.org.uk

If you get in now, you can get 69k+ at age 28. It's like optometry 10 years ago. I think you should stick at it with optometry. 43k per year is fairly comfortable, you wont be mega rich but you wont be strapped for cash either.
Reply 8
what about someone who would apply say next year or 2 years time...what change in terms of job/salary would this cause?
And also, why are the grade requirements not high as others.
WHen you say UCL is competitive, how do you mean? I see your accepted at UCL for Audiology... did you write a strong PS on it? how were your gcses's, and what did you achive in Alevel?
Reply 9
cherc2005
what about someone who would apply say next year or 2 years time...what change in terms of job/salary would this cause?
And also, why are the grade requirements not high as others.
WHen you say UCL is competitive, how do you mean? I see your accepted at UCL for Audiology... did you write a strong PS on it? how were your gcses's, and what did you achive in Alevel?


In 20 years time audiology will still be strong. The only problem in 25 years time is that career progression would be alot of hardwork and take longer, therefore, the high salaries will be more apparrent at an age of 33. No one has graduated with the new BSc honours degree yet so information on the internet is limited to nil. In 2 years time, career progression will be quick.

UCL is competitive because so many people apply there, it has a top notch department. Teaching is ace so is research and the lecturers are one of the best audiologists in the country.

Entry requirements for next year will be BBC-BBB. This year it was BBC with one or two getting a BCC offer [very rare]. It's no way as competitive as optometry yet at all the universities. Two years time it'll probably be very competitive on par with optometry at UCL in my opinion. You do not need to go to UCL to get the high salaries. UCL is just the best place to go to as the course content and structure is very good, it looks fun too. Manchester probably has the best rep for audiology but many people do badly and some hated it there. Southampton has the best facilities...end of the day, audiology is not too hard to get into, no one knows anything about it. If you can't get into ucl, there is always aston, southampton, bristol and manchester.

I got AABa for alevel with predicted grades ABCb. UCL don't take no notice on gcses but manchester require 6. [except B/C needed for GCSE english and maths]
Reply 10
Basically im looking for a career which i will be able to easily find a job & be well paid.
I decided with optometry provisionally because i thought that as i didnt want to do med/dent, it was the next best thing. After lots of problems on what to apply for at Uni and time running out, i jus applied for optometry.
But after this, ive found out that Jobs are harder to find, salaries are "too low for the grades needed to get in". After applying, i heard about audiology, and things such as Educational Psyciatrist, Accountancy, etc.
I think if i was to do something outside of "healthcare" i would do something to do with business & finiance, although i have not done any business or economics in my life. i did maths, chemistry and biology at Alevel.

At the end of the day, i want a job for money. Im not greedy but i havnt worked hard for nothing. I have expensive tastes and im worried that 30-40k might not be satifying enough for me.
I dont want to be a doctor/dentist, and i dont think im cut-out for Law. Ive got ABB and im having second thoughts.
I dont know what to do.
Reply 11
cherc2005
Basically im looking for a career which i will be able to easily find a job & be well paid.
I decided with optometry provisionally because i thought that as i didnt want to do med/dent, it was the next best thing. After lots of problems on what to apply for at Uni and time running out, i jus applied for optometry.
But after this, ive found out that Jobs are harder to find, salaries are "too low for the grades needed to get in". After applying, i heard about audiology, and things such as Educational Psyciatrist, Accountancy, etc.
I think if i was to do something outside of "healthcare" i would do something to do with business & finiance, although i have not done any business or economics in my life. i did maths, chemistry and biology at Alevel.

At the end of the day, i want a job for money. Im not greedy but i havnt worked hard for nothing. I have expensive tastes and im worried that 30-40k might not be satifying enough for me.
I dont want to be a doctor/dentist, and i dont think im cut-out for Law. Ive got ABB and im having second thoughts.
I dont know what to do.


If you have the A in maths then finance is a good possibility for you. I don't know that much about finance/economics type degrees so i can't really give accurate advice. If you had physics you could of tried for Engineering, 57-65k salaries are possible but it has a low starting salary.
Reply 12
A in chem, B in bio & maths
i wouldnt say i have a strong subject, but maths isnt. like i said, i liked the science subjects and i dont think that i could have done better in any other subjects.

ive got a place at city for optom. all i have to do is accept
but im not sure. i mean i could wait a year and decide.
i mean imagine what would happen if i went to uni and 6months later finally realised that it was the wrong option.
Reply 13
cherc2005
A in chem, B in bio & maths
i wouldnt say i have a strong subject, but maths isnt. like i said, i liked the science subjects and i dont think that i could have done better in any other subjects.

ive got a place at city for optom. all i have to do is accept
but im not sure. i mean i could wait a year and decide.
i mean imagine what would happen if i went to uni and 6months later finally realised that it was the wrong option.


True, you got to be 100% sure before you decide. How much of a salary do you think will satisfy you. Maybe there are possibilities to earn more in optometry, maybe research. You could always ask your local optician, they are generally very friendly and helpful. I too wanted to do optometry last year but my college thought i would get BCC.
Reply 14
having just graduated with a good degree in optometry...all i can say...if you want a good salary straight off...you are wasting your time....but if you are willing to wait a few years and put in a lot of hard work (i.e. specialising...) you can make a lot of money

your average pre-reg salary: minimum wage- 12k (some places won't even pay you :eek: and heard of some people getting 20k for their prereg...but at places like that they leave you in the lurch and a year later you fail your pqe's so a waste of time)

until recently optometrists were paid A LOT...when i was in my first year...starting salaries (newly qualified) were about 27/28k minimum...now they are 24-25k :frown: but due to the major influx of people wanting to do optometry...ontop of new courses such as the one in APU...foundation courses and fasttrack courses....optometrists are two a penny...and thats why such high grades are required (for aprox 100spaces in aston...they got 1000 applications...750 applications for 115 places in city)...before people would be head hunted...now you're lucky to get a prereg...or a job without searching (or having a family member in the profession :rolleyes: )

also..if you want a job that makes you sound 'good'....don't bother with optometry...thanx to the multiples (boots...speccies...d&a) we're just like shop assistants

gosh arent i negative :biggrin:

but seriously...its an excellent degree....first year is quite hard...and its not the type of course where you can doss around..cos you will fall behind...but on the whole it is very interesting....allows you to pull together all aspects of the sciences (if thats what you're interested in :p: )

and even if after qualifying you start on 25k...that is a really good salary...given the average graduate salary is something like 13k (or even less) .... and with experience that does go up..esp if you get lots of sales in (you're only 'supposedly' a health care professional...in reality your a glasses/contact lenses salesperson)...your salary will shoot up...and there is soooooooo much you can specialise in....paediatric optometry (mainly hospital work)...orthoptics (conditions concerning how the two eyes work together..to do with squints ...lazy eyes etc)...complex contact lenses...diabetes and glaucoma shared care...low vision...dyslexia... there really is so much you can do ... and its these things that will really make your salary shoot up...optometrists on average make 36K....it may not be in the same league as dentists...but there is scope to make up to 60K and even more (i know someone who charges £80 for an eye test...and he makes about 80k a year)...have a look on the internet and optometry magazines...theres always ads with salaries 40-55k and even more...(but salaries were a lot better about 10yrs ago...a newly qualified optom could easily expect about 40-50k....but again you can thank the multiples for that)

just some advice to ppl who just got into the degree: first congratulations...and secondly get a job as an optical assistant as soon as you can....and when you go for interviews ask about prereg possibilities...cos i can tell you theres no words to describe how depressing it is when you graduate and don't have a prereg place...and given that there are less people willing to take on preregs..and more students than there are places....its just gonna get harder!
Reply 15
Thanx for that info ladylala. One question about prereg placememnts. Can you take one of these placements in any practise, or does it have to be with an optometrist who specially deals with prereg students? I am an optical assistant. Will this experiance (I'm 16) help me in getting a placement? Can you do your prereg placement anywhere?

Thanx very much in advance!
Reply 16
sheepgirl
Thanx for that info ladylala. One question about prereg placememnts. Can you take one of these placements in any practise, or does it have to be with an optometrist who specially deals with prereg students? I am an optical assistant. Will this experiance (I'm 16) help me in getting a placement? Can you do your prereg placement anywhere?

Thanx very much in advance!


hi sheepgirl...you can do your pre-reg anywhere...but your supervisor has to have been qualified for about 4yrs inorder to supervise you (which is a problem when lookin for a pre-reg cos lots places just have locums...so even though they make have 100's of testing rooms...they can't take a prereg :frown: )

its really good you have optical experience...stick with it...and when you get into the course...(hopefully :biggrin: ) ask about pre-reg prospects straight away!!! if there aren't any...try lookin for a job which will get you a pre-reg...but either way...if you've got exp from 16...its a great bonus!

hope your gcses went well and good luck with whatever you do!
Reply 17
hi everyone...

found this website recently:

www.muslimoptician.net

its aimed at muslims...but has excellent resources...esp for students..and pre-reg's....and fairly active forums!

i'd recommend it to anyone...muslim or non-muslim who are studying optometry!
Reply 18
Thanx very much for the info. I'm glad that you can do a pre-reg placement anywhere (Well staff permitting) as this will probably make the whole process a bit easier. I'm so happy I've got this job as its a great experiance. I'm just working with frames at the moment (which can get incredably dull when you just move frames around all day!) But it should hopefully lead on to dispensing and learning more about the industry in general. But hey I've only been working for 3 months so I've got plenty of time! Just need to concnetrate on my A levels now.

How are you finding working as a newly qualified optometrist?
Reply 19
i'm not newly qualified ...i just graduated! lookin for a pre-reg.. :frown: but hopefully will find one soon *trying to stay positive*