Fastest Growing Careers: #20

 

This post is for helping students to find the accredited program of fast growing occupations. The post is based on data from department of labor. Many time student get lured into wrong schools by deceptive advertising, aggressive marketing and lead generation websites run by money hungry and greed driven companies and diploma mills. Reading this blog will always help you to find the accredited programs to dodge diploma mills. This blog help students to save tuition in thousands of dollars and attain degrees and diplomas which are recognized by potential employers, government, veterans and universities for post graduate studies and credit transfers.

20 occupations with the highest percent change of employment between 2014-24.

 #20. Optometrist

2015 Median pay:          $103,900 per year ($49.95 per hour)

Job Outlook:                

Employment of optometrists is projected to grow 27 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations.

Optometrists examine the eyes and other parts of the visual system. They also diagnose and treat visual problems and manage diseases, injuries, and other disorders of the eyes. They prescribe eyeglasses or contact lenses as needed.

How do I become an Optometrist?

Optometrists must complete a Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) degree program and obtain a license to practice in a particular state. O.D. programs take 4 years to complete, and most students have a bachelor’s degree before entering such a program. Applicants to O.D. programs must have completed at least 3 years of postsecondary education. Required courses include those in biology or zoology, chemistry, physics, English, and math. Most students have a bachelor’s degree with a pre-medical or biological sciences emphasis before enrolling in an O.D. program.

Applicants to O.D. programs must also take the Optometry Admission Test (OAT), a computerized exam that tests applicants in four subject areas: science, reading comprehension, physics, and quantitative reasoning.

O.D. programs take 4 years to complete. They combine classroom learning and supervised clinical experience. Coursework includes anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, optics, visual science, and the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders of the visual system.

After finishing an O.D. degree, some optometrists complete a 1-year residency program to get advanced clinical training in the area in which they wish to specialize. Areas of specialization for residency programs include family practice, low vision rehabilitation, pediatric or geriatric optometry, and ocular disease, among others.

Licenses, Certifications and Registrations:

All states require optometrists to be licensed. To get a license, a prospective optometrist must have an O.D. degree from an accredited optometry school and must complete all sections of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry exam.

Here is the link for Directories of Accredited Program.

Is Drone or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Pilot a Booming Career?

There are presently two methods of gaining FAA authorization to fly civil (non-governmental) UAS:

1. Section 333 Exemption
2. Special Airworthiness Certificate (SAC)

Until recently it was immensely difficult to fly a drone for commercial purposes in the US, at least legally. At the start of 2015 just a dozen companies had been granted special exemptions by the FAA to fly, and most of those were for filming on a closed set. The first half of 2015, however, has seen an eruption of new businesses given permission to fly. Over 900 FAA exemptions to fly drones have been handed out to farmers, railroads, security services, and medical facilities.

Enterprise and large employers are paying up for drone pilots -- about $50 an hour, or over $100,000 a year -- according to Al Palmer, director of the center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems at the University of North Dakota.

Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) is looking for engineers to help test and develop Prime Air, its drone delivery service. Facebook is bulking up its drone team. Amazon has said it wants to use drones to deliver small packages over short distances. And Google acquired Titan Aerospace, which makes high-altitude, solar-powered drones.

A agriculture firm in Michigan, a builder performing roof inspection from Kansas, a company monitoring explosive charges based in Colorado, a security firm conducting surveillance over private property in Florida, these are just a handful of the businesses now allowed to fly drones over US soil.

The Drone Exemptions Database: (Companies Using Drone)

http://dronecenter.bard.edu/the-exemptions-database/

Who is offering Training?

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach campus started only three years ago with about 11 students and that has grown to about 230 students just in that three-year period. Embry-Riddle is one of a small but growing group of colleges and universities offering a degree in unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS. The schools have launched the programs expecting a bump in demand for the engineers needed to design drones and operators needed to run them.

Sources:

www.theverge.com

http://dronecenter.bard.edu/about/ - Center for the study of the Drone at Bard College

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/

Comparison of Nursing School: Alaska

Alaska is a great opportunity for Registered Nurses. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov), there are 5780 registered nurses in the state of Alaska. RN is one of the highest numbers employed out of all other professionals in healthcare industry as a whole. Here is a comparison to understand the demand of RN compare to other popular professions in healthcare setting in Alaska; currently, there are 500 Physical Therapist, 480 pharmacist, 540 dental hygienist, 580 LPN, 640 Medical health and record technicians, 1750 nursing assistants and 1440 medical assistant compare to 5780 RNs. Undoubtedly, RN has more opportunities and growing exponentially with time.

RN in Alaska are also paid one of the highest in the nation, in fact, it is the fourth top paying state for RN in the nation. Current median hourly wage is $41.12 and annual mean wage is $85, 740. Below is the chart for top 5 states;

State	Employment per thousand jobs	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage
California	16.75	$47.31	$98,400
Hawaii	17.39	$42.42	$88,230
Massachusetts	24.05	$41.23	$85,770
Alaska	17.79	$41.22	$85,740
Oregon	18.44	$39.87	$82,940

If you are planning to enroll to pursue RN program in Alaska it is critical for you to choose the right school, the school which is approved by board of nursing, accredited by ACEN, good passing rate in NCLEX and above all an affordable school. Here are few links for you to find the right school for you. However, if you need one on one advice, you can always write to me for help navigating these links which will direct you to the right school convenient to your location.

There are only two schools listed under nursing board, Alaska. University of Alaska Anchorage, school of nursing should be the number one choice since it has both board approved and accredited by ACEN. The other school Charter College only offers Associate degree in RN which is not widely desirable for employers, most of them looking for BSN. And also, they are not yet accredited by ACEN. Here is the link of ACEN page.

http://www.acenursing.us/accreditedprograms/programsearch.asp

And here is the link for Alaska Board of Nursing page.

https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/ProfessionalLicensing/BoardofNursing/ApplicantInformation/Education.aspx

Instate tuition for University of Alaska Anchorage is $5494 for one academic year (2014-2015) compare to $19, 532 for Charter College.