Electronic prepress operator vs preflight technician

The differences between electronic prepress operators and preflight technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an electronic prepress operator and a preflight technician. Additionally, an electronic prepress operator has an average salary of $51,509, which is higher than the $50,553 average annual salary of a preflight technician.

The top three skills for an electronic prepress operator include computer software, electronic prepress and adobe photoshop. The most important skills for a preflight technician are troubleshoot, customer service, and adobe photoshop.

Electronic prepress operator vs preflight technician overview

	Electronic Prepress Operator	Preflight Technician
Yearly salary	$51,509	$50,553
Hourly rate	$24.76	$24.30
Growth rate	-14%	3%
Number of jobs	28,606	5,361
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

Electronic prepress operator vs preflight technician salary

Electronic prepress operators and preflight technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Electronic Prepress Operator	Preflight Technician
Average salary	$51,509	$50,553
Salary range	Between $37,000 And $71,000	Between $35,000 And $71,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between electronic prepress operator and preflight technician education

There are a few differences between an electronic prepress operator and a preflight technician in terms of educational background:

	Electronic Prepress Operator	Preflight Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Graphic Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	Stanford University	University of Texas at Austin

Electronic prepress operator vs preflight technician demographics

Here are the differences between electronic prepress operators' and preflight technicians' demographics:

	Electronic Prepress Operator	Preflight Technician
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 65.7% Female, 34.3%	Male, 75.0% Female, 25.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 3.2% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 9.0% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 3.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Asian, 6.8% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between electronic prepress operator and preflight technician duties and responsibilities

Electronic prepress operator example responsibilities.

Ensure ISO certification are achieved on an annual basis.
File preparation for PDF driven workflow.
Involve in daily schedule planning with pressroom and sales.
Prepare customer files for printing by trapping and outputting to film and PDF.
Work closely with the pressroom and shipping to guarantee jobs meet critical deadlines.
Work with planners, scheduling, estimating, ISO coordinator and the maintenance department.

Preflight technician example responsibilities.

Supervise modernization of prepress department from letterpress to fully electronic and train incoming staff in typesetting and electronic prepress.
Implement pre-flight procedures that eliminate costly re-prints and increase production speed and accuracy.

Electronic prepress operator vs preflight technician skills

Common electronic prepress operator skills

Computer Software, 15%
Electronic Prepress, 10%
Adobe Photoshop, 8%
Color Correction, 8%
Platemaking, 7%
PC, 7%

Common preflight technician skills

Troubleshoot, 21%
Customer Service, 19%
Adobe Photoshop, 17%
Mac, 13%
FTP, 11%
Adobe Creative Suite, 10%

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Electronic Prepress Operator
Electronic Prepress Operator vs Preflight Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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