Printer assistant vs compositor

The differences between printer assistants and compositors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a printer assistant and a compositor. Additionally, a compositor has an average salary of $45,101, which is higher than the $32,289 average annual salary of a printer assistant.

The top three skills for a printer assistant include cleanliness, screen print and graphic design. The most important skills for a compositor are VFX, visual effects, and animation.

Printer assistant vs compositor overview

	Printer Assistant	Compositor
Yearly salary	$32,289	$45,101
Hourly rate	$15.52	$21.68
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	1,162	154
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 41%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

Printer assistant vs compositor salary

Printer assistants and compositors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Printer Assistant	Compositor
Average salary	$32,289	$45,101
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $46,000	Between $23,000 And $85,000
Highest paying City	-	Pittsfield, MA
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	Dassault Systèmes
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between printer assistant and compositor education

There are a few differences between a printer assistant and a compositor in terms of educational background:

	Printer Assistant	Compositor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 41%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Graphic Design	Animation
Most common college	-	-

Printer assistant vs compositor demographics

Here are the differences between printer assistants' and compositors' demographics:

	Printer Assistant	Compositor
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 60.4% Female, 39.6%	Male, 62.7% Female, 37.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% Asian, 7.6% White, 62.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 7.3% White, 60.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between printer assistant and compositor duties and responsibilities

Printer assistant example responsibilities.

Assist in printing the unique designs on the t-shirts.
Handle quality control, inventory, screen reclaiming, and general cleaning.
Change printing presses, change ink colors, clean printing presses and troubleshoot printing machinery.
Assist in all phases of the printing process including coating, burning, printing, packaging and reclaiming
Receive orders for textbooks, brochures, commencement booklets, t-shirts for on-campus activities, package orders for shipment.
Service bureau of customer-prepare disks to a high-resolution postscript printer and maintenance of Macintosh computers.

Compositor example responsibilities.

Work closely with lighting and fx leads to help achieve an efficient workflow.
Work include matte extractions, tracking, color correction, paint fixesand integrating cg elements.
Direct a small VFX team, create consistent, realistic 3D environments/effects; integrate live-action (film) into the CGI.
Apply FX stage makeup efficiently and quickly for several characters using stage blood, liquid latex, and other FX materials.
Install signs, and apply graphics to cars, vans, trucks, semi-trucks, boats, and windows.
Hand cut stencils and hand letter signs.

Printer assistant vs compositor skills

Common printer assistant skills

Cleanliness, 20%
Screen Print, 18%
Graphic Design, 8%
Collating, 6%
Quality Customer Service, 5%
Adobe Creative Suite, 4%

Common compositor skills

VFX, 19%
Visual Effects, 13%
Animation, 11%
CG, 11%
Maya, 7%
Mocha, 6%