Optometry

Panda246

Hi I've completed my Leaving cert and hope to do Optometry in September
Can anyone give my any info on the career, and what the pay is like for this career
I know not the most important aspect but important nevertheless

Daisies

Panda246 wrote: »

Hi I've completed my Leaving cert and hope to do Optometry in September
Can anyone give my any info on the career, and what the pay is like for this career
I know not the most important aspect but important nevertheless

I might not be the best person to ask considering I am moving out of practising optometry but here are my thoughts:

- It's misclassified as a health care profession along the lines of physio etc. When you graduate, you are essentially working in a business that has to make money. You do end up hearing a lot about sales.
- You need to like people. You deal with on average 20 people a day, most of whom are lovely but some of whom will be horrible.
- The pay is the main saving grace, Starting wages have gone down since the recession but are on the up again. Expect a starting salary of around 30k. I managed to put myself though a masters while working 2 days a week and living in Dublin.

Panda246

Daisies wrote: »

I might not be the best person to ask considering I am moving out of practising optometry but here are my thoughts:

- It's misclassified as a health care profession along the lines of physio etc. When you graduate, you are essentially working in a business that has to make money. You do end up hearing a lot about sales.
- You need to like people. You deal with on average 20 people a day, most of whom are lovely but some of whom will be horrible.
- The pay is the main saving grace, Starting wages have gone down since the recession but are on the up again. Expect a starting salary of around 30k. I managed to put myself though a masters while working 2 days a week and living in Dublin.

*****************
Thanks Daisies for that Insight, so you use to work as an optometrist? Can I ask why you are moving out of practicising optometry
How did you find the optometry course? Was the physics really the challenging .

I wish it was more like a health science profession rather than so much about sales
That's what a lot of people have said, I'm kind of put off especially when one friend said that she knows a man whose daughter is an optician and she never has enough money. But not even that I don't want my career to be a lie, just assigning glasses to people who don't even need them just to keep up with sales and stuff Lol hmm

Daisies

Panda246 wrote: »

*****************
Thanks Daisies for that Insight, so you use to work as an optometrist? Can I ask why you are moving out of practicising optometry
How did you find the optometry course? Was the physics really the challenging .

I wish it was more like a health science profession rather than so much about sales
That's what a lot of people have said, I'm kind of put off especially when one friend said that she knows a man whose daughter is an optician and she never has enough money. But not even that I don't want my career to be a lie, just assigning glasses to people who don't even need them just to keep up with sales and stuff Lol hmm

I still work as an optometrist while looking for work in my masters field. I'm moving out of it because I HATE the sales aspect and I find the work repetitive.

The course itself has changed since I did it so I can't comment too much on it. I had done physics for the leaving cert so didn't find that aspect too difficult. I found the ocular diseases more difficult. It's a pretty full on course with a lot of contact hours and practicals.

jeanjolie

Not to derail the thread but what is the difference between optometry and opthamology? Is the former 'like' a psychologist and the latter a psychiatrist in terms of their medical powers?

Daisies

jeanjolie wrote: »

Not to derail the thread but what is the difference between optometry and opthamology? Is the former 'like' a psychologist and the latter a psychiatrist in terms of their medical powers?

I suppose that would be a close approximation in that ophthalmologists do medical training before specialising in ophthalmology