Also called: Optical Engineer, Electro-Optical Engineer
Builds products that use light: fiber-optic links, sensors, laser systems, and displays.
You might design an optical sensor for a medical device in the morning and troubleshoot a fiber-optic test setup in the afternoon. Work splits between computer modeling, lab bench testing, and meetings with mechanical and software engineers. Photonics is the backbone of the internet and of the AI data centers being built right now.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in optical, electrical, or engineering physics; master's common for design roles.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics, Physics.
Growing faster than average. Not projected separately; AI data-center optics and sensing are growing fast.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI speeds modeling; bench testing and building light-based products for booming data centers stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, AP Computer Science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.