Pre-press technician vs prepress operator

The differences between pre-press technicians and prepress operators 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 prepress operator. Additionally, a prepress operator has an average salary of $41,006, 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 prepress operator are mac, graphic design, and adobe creative suite.

Pre-press technician vs prepress operator overview

	Pre-Press Technician	Prepress Operator
Yearly salary	$39,811	$41,006
Hourly rate	$19.14	$19.71
Growth rate	3%	-14%
Number of jobs	11,187	25,849
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

Pre-press technician vs prepress operator salary

Pre-press technicians and prepress operators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Pre-Press Technician	Prepress Operator
Average salary	$39,811	$41,006
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $53,000	Between $29,000 And $57,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between pre-press technician and prepress operator education

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

	Pre-Press Technician	Prepress Operator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Graphic Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	University of Texas at Austin	University of Texas at Austin

Pre-press technician vs prepress operator demographics

Here are the differences between pre-press technicians' and prepress operators' demographics:

	Pre-Press Technician	Prepress Operator
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 67.4% Female, 32.6%	Male, 66.9% Female, 33.1%
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, 19.6% Asian, 8.4% White, 60.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between pre-press technician and prepress operator 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.

Prepress operator example responsibilities.

Make PDF files manages fonts, scans using flat bed scanners and download PDF files and import them into page layout.
Perform G7 color certification Epson inkjet proofing systems.
Provide customers with troubleshooting assistance and procedures on postscript, imposition, trapping, color management and PDF issues.
Work in Macintosh and PC environment.
Output printing plates using Creo Trendsetter.
Work perform on Macintosh and PC computers.

Pre-press technician vs prepress operator skills

Common pre-press technician skills

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

Common prepress operator skills

Mac, 8%
Graphic Design, 8%
Adobe Creative Suite, 7%
PC, 6%
BARS, 6%
Desktop, 5%

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Pre-Press Technician
Pre-Press Technician vs Prepress Operator

Updated January 8, 2025

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