Pre-press technician vs plate maker

The differences between pre-press technicians and plate makers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a pre-press technician and a plate maker. Additionally, a plate maker has an average salary of $40,483, which is higher than the $39,811 average annual salary of a pre-press technician.

The top three skills for a pre-press technician include adobe photoshop, mac and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a plate maker are creo, flexo, and quality plates.

Pre-press technician vs plate maker overview

	Pre-Press Technician	Plate Maker
Yearly salary	$39,811	$40,483
Hourly rate	$19.14	$19.46
Growth rate	3%	-
Number of jobs	11,187	7,031
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	High School Diploma, 39%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

Pre-press technician vs plate maker salary

Pre-press technicians and plate makers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Pre-Press Technician	Plate Maker
Average salary	$39,811	$40,483
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $53,000	Between $22,000 And $72,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between pre-press technician and plate maker education

There are a few differences between a pre-press technician and a plate maker in terms of educational background:

	Pre-Press Technician	Plate Maker
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	High School Diploma, 39%
Most common major	Graphic Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	University of Texas at Austin	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

Pre-press technician vs plate maker demographics

Here are the differences between pre-press technicians' and plate makers' demographics:

	Pre-Press Technician	Plate Maker
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 67.4% Female, 32.6%	Male, 76.8% Female, 23.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 3.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 8.9% White, 60.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 3.2% Hispanic or Latino, 19.3% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between pre-press technician and plate maker duties and responsibilities

Pre-press technician example responsibilities.

Demonstrate ability in the trouble-shooting of provide files and the timely creation of PDF and Epson proofs for customer approval.
Create signs, banners, brochures, posters, forms, stationery, logos, ads, etc.
Identify page layout issues (wrong margins, no page bleed, wrong page count, etc .).
Guarantee adhesive cleanliness for aircraft windows.
Preflight and prepare jobs using Kodak Prinergy.
Experience in the Prinergy and InSite workflow.

Plate maker example responsibilities.

Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment such as Creo Trendsetters and Kodak Magnus VLF.
Retain records for ISO audit.
Retrieve files from CTP server.
Set up jobs and run jobs on Autologic platemaker.
Monitor completion of plates for quality control distribution to the pressroom.
Pack lids on production line and make plates on plate-maker for flexo printing.

Pre-press technician vs plate maker skills

Common pre-press technician skills

Adobe Photoshop, 10%
Mac, 8%
Troubleshoot, 7%
Adobe Indesign, 6%
Adobe Illustrator, 6%
Graphic Design, 5%

Common plate maker skills

Creo, 15%
Flexo, 9%
Quality Plates, 9%
Plate Material, 8%
ISO, 7%
Routine Maintenance, 6%