ATM advice on turning pro?

["Michael D. Crawford" <crawford@goingware.com>]

I recall seeing some professional opticians and optical designers on the ATM
list.  I'd like to ask you for some advice on how I can make a career of optics.

I've been working as a programmer for fifteen years, but for various reasons I
am unhappy with it and have been thinking of changing careers, but I'm not sure
what I might do.  Yesterday my wife asked me when I am happiest, and I said
that I am happiest when I am working on telescopes.  So I thought I might be 
either an optician or an optical designer.

I emailed David Hilyard of the Lick observatory optical lab, looking for an
optician I once knew who used to work there, and Mr. Hilyard said the best way 
to become an optician is to work as an apprentice at a company that offers 
apprenticeships.  He said this takes 6 to 8 years.

I'm 38 years old now, and I can't make a change anytime real soon, so I don't 
know that I would be able to take the time to do an optics apprenticeship.  But 
perhaps optical design would be a better choice for me.

I have a bachelor's degree in physics from UC Santa Cruz.  I successfully 
petitioned for credit in the optics course offerred by the physics department 
there, based on my experience with telescope making and doing well on the final 
exam.  (A petition for credit allows you to get college credit for a course 
without actually taking the course.)

I would enjoy still working with computers, for example to write lens design 
software.  It's just that the software business has always been crazy; I'd like 
a job that was a little more predictable.

I'm also interested in lasers, and have helped some friends build a couple.  I 
thinkered around on a dye laser for a while but never got it working, but I 
expect I could if I really set my mind to it.

I would also like at some point to get a graduate degree.  One possibility 
might be to study electrooptics.  I would ultimately like to get a phd if I do 
go to grad school, but I would probably break that up and get a master's first, 
and get a phd after working for a few years.  I think that getting another 
degree would help more for being a designer than an optician.

What I feel would really be ideal for me is to design novel optical systems and 
then build them myself.  I don't know if anyone actually does that.  If I were 
to do fabrication, I would be more interested in doing custom or one-off 
systems rather than production work in a factory.  I would be really stoked to 
work in an observatory's optical shop.

I have a complicated requirement though - it would be very helpful if I could 
do all this in Canada.  Even better if it could be in Nova Scotia.  The reason 
is that my wife is Canadian.  We live in the U.S. now but she would like to 
move to Nova Scotia sometime within the next year.  She might be willing to 
move elsewhere within Canada while I attend graduate school, but I don't think 
she's going to want to move back to the U.S.

Thanks for any advice you can give me,

Mike
-- 
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc. - Expert Software Development and Consulting
http://www.goingware.com/
crawford@goingware.com

         Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow.