Engineering Is a career in Optics/Photonics engineering right for me?

[aj_gl00]

So lately, my interest in the realm of optics/optoelectronics/photonics engineering has grown and I have started to seriously consider pursuing a career in the field. I have done a bit of career research and also have done some learning on the side to gather more knowledge on these topics. However, I have some questions on what a career in these fields would look like, and I wanted to find out more about this area to know what I would be getting myself into if I did make the choice to pursue a career in optics/photonics. I have come up with some questions that I would like to ask for those who are knowledgeable on this field and its career prospects (I am in the United States, for reference, but anyone can feel free to respond).

• Amount of schooling. What education level is needed in order to find work in this field? I know that having education at the PhD level will be best since it is a very research-heavy field, but what would the opportunities look like for those who have a Bachelor's or Master's level of education.
• Locations of jobs. Where are the hotspots for those trying to have a career in the optics/photonics fields? Are these jobs available throughout the country, or are they actually concentrated to a few areas? I speak here more on government and industry jobs rather than academia.
• Number of available jobs/opportunities. How does the job market look like for optics/photonics engineers, especially for those starting out? Are the number of jobs very limited/competitive, or is there a need for more of these engineers?
• Outlook [Present and Future]. What does the job outlook look for optics and photonics engineers? Is this a field that will experience a significant amount of growth in the coming years, or will it still experience slow growth?
• Day-to-Day. What are the majority of these jobs like? Are they office jobs with computer work? Do they spend some time in laboratories? I understand that the day-to-day activities can vary depending on what you do and also on the day, but is there generally something that is consistent for each work day?
• Market. Which industries will most use optics/photonics technologies and its applications? Are major breakthroughs expected in the future, or has the majority of the applications/technologies already been implemented?
• Innovation. What are the major areas of focus in optics/photonics? I know some things that come to mind are photonic-integrated circuits, LiDar, quantum technology, VR. But are these major focuses in this field, or is there more emphasis on other products/technologies?

(I apologize in advance if this is long. If any of these questions are answered or advice is given, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you very much!)

 

[berkeman]

From your other thread you currently have a BSME and have been working for a couple years in that field:

I am currently working towards my second year at my first entry-level job. I graduated with a B.S. in MechEng, and did not really specialize in anything in particular. I decided on the Mechanical Engineering route since this seemed to be one of the broadest engineering branches and would keep my options fairly open. I have an REU and one internship under my belt as far as my experience prior to graduating in '23. My current job is as an associate/junior level production engineer at a polymer manufacturing company.

Are you thinking of getting a 2nd BS (in EE or Physics) to start you down the Photonics path? Are you in North America or Europe or elsewhere?

 

[aj_gl00]

From your other thread you currently have a BSME and have been working for a couple years in that field:


Are you thinking of getting a 2nd BS (in EE or Physics) to start you down the Photonics path? Are you in North America or Europe or elsewhere?

I am leaning more on the EE path, and I am in North America (United States).

 

[bryantcl]

The tag line for this thread "is a career in Optics/Photonics engineering right for me?" Only you can ultimately decide if it's right for you. You asked about job prospects. I would suggest you go to LinkedIn, indeed, etc and see what the prospects look like. If your university has a strong physics department you could ask about placement in those fields.

Best of luck,

bryantcl

 

[CrysPhys]

So lately, my interest in the realm of optics/optoelectronics/photonics engineering has grown and I have started to seriously consider pursuing a career in the field.

* Well, you've narrowed down your options from your previous thread. But "optics/optoelectronics/photonics engineering" is still too broad a field to address. You'll need to narrow choices to get meaningful answers to most of your questions.

* There's another recent thread concerning job prospects. One poster brought up projections by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can search there (https://www.bls.gov/).

* There are also several professional societies geared towards various aspects of optics/optoelectronics/photonics engineering. From my understanding of what you want, the best one to start with is SPIE (https://www.spie.org/). If you have access to a technical library, look over their various journals and newsletters. You might also want to join them and use their services.

* My usual caveat: Job markets can invert within a year or two. My career spanned three major market disruptions: the Semiconductor Meltdown of the early 1990's, the Internet Bubble Burst of the early 2000's, and the Financial Crisis/Great Recession of 2008. E.g., in the early 1990's, the telcom industry thought that the then current generation of fiberoptic transmission systems would give them more bandwidth than they would ever need. Cutbacks and layoffs in optoelectronic device R&D. Then followed the Internet Bubble Inflation. Catchup time. Shortage of scientists and engineers as of late 1999. Then Internet Bubble Burst starting ~mid 2000. Massive layoffs by ~mid 2001. Former crown jewels such as Lucent crippled and Nortel eventually going kaput.

* Current unstable US political, business, and financial policies make career planning even more difficult.

 

[Kirti_Vardhan_1]

Hello.

From my current understanding as an individual who was also considering further studies in photonics, photonic systems are the backbone of the modern internet and engineers in the field would always be required, due to these systems ability to seamlessly transmit massive amounts of data.

Photonics is niche compared to mainstream electrical or software engineering, but it is not confined to just “oligopolistic” circles.
Jobs exist in:

• Telecom & Datacenters (fiber optics, lasers)
• Semiconductor industry (lasers, detectors, photonic integrated circuits)
• Defense & aerospace (LIDAR, imaging, laser comms)
• Medical devices (optical imaging, laser surgery)
• Consumer tech (AR/VR headsets, smartphone cameras, optical sensors).
  So, outside academia, there are still solid industry opportunities — though often concentrated in hubs (US: Silicon Valley, Boston, Arizona, New York; Europe: Germany, Switzerland, UK).

My research also indicates that electronic and photonic systems are combined to achieve some aim. And while photons offer many advantages as compared to electrons, the systems so far havent been as practical and applicable in the large scale as electronic circuits. But photonics is a wide field with various avenues, including work on devices, semiconductors, lasers, light, diodes, and energy, as well as the obvious electrical engineering and controls/signals aspects.

Photonics at grad-level is mathematically heavy:

• Electromagnetics (Maxwell’s equations in waveguides, fibers)
• Quantum mechanics (semiconductor optics, quantum optics, lasers)
• Solid-state physics (materials, band structures)

So photonics is definitely for you, however it may also be worthwhile to consider that one needs a security clearance, political alignment, and connections in academia and formal government circles within many of photonic applications especially in defense, national security. A typical photonics sequence in graduate school requires one to master classical mechanics, statistical mechanics, electromagnetics and quantum mechanics as well, and is plainly evidence of a high level of mathematical and physics knowledge.
As for formal employment, here is a baseline foundation: the five most common jobs in photonics:

1. Optical/Photonics Design Engineer
   • Design lenses, lasers, fiber-optic systems, sensors, photonic integrated circuits.
   • Work in telecom (fiber optics), semiconductors, or defense.
   • Day-to-day: simulations (COMSOL, Zemax, Lumerical), lab testing, system integration.
2. Fiber Optics / Optical Communications Engineer
   • Most common overall because the internet backbone is fiber.
   • Jobs in telecom, datacenters, networking companies (Cisco, Nokia, Corning, Huawei, etc.).
   • Focus: improving transmission capacity, reducing signal loss, building optical transceivers.
3. Laser Engineer
   • Develop and integrate lasers for manufacturing (cutting, welding), medicine (surgery, imaging), defense (targeting, LIDAR).
   • Jobs in both industry and research labs.
4. Optical Test/Characterization Engineer
   • Specialize in testing and measuring photonic devices (lasers, detectors, modulators).
   • Common entry-level role with a B.Sc. or M.Sc. background.
5. Applications Engineer (Optics/Photonics)
   • Bridge between R&D and customers.
   • Help companies adopt lasers, sensors, imaging systems into their products.
   • Common in medical imaging, AR/VR, lidar startups.