How To Become A Printing Press Machinist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a printing press machinist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a printing press machinist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.68 an hour? That's $40,934 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 3,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePrinting Press MachinistUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,934

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.8

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 6.28%

Black or African American 3.92%

Hispanic or Latino 14.49%

Unknown 3.73%

White 71.06%

Gender

female 14.88%

male 85.12%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a printing press machinist

Explore printing press machinist education requirements

Most common printing press machinist degrees

High School Diploma

54.3 %

Associate

18.6 %

Bachelor's

12.9 %

Start to develop specific printing press machinist skills

Skills	Percentages
Punch Press	43.71%
Calipers	25.55%
Press Machine	24.70%
RAN	6.04%

Complete relevant printing press machinist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New printing press machinists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a printing press machinist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real printing press machinist resumes.

Research printing press machinist duties and responsibilities

Manage output according to company quality standards and corresponding ISO certification.
Install UV ink dryers and all other duties as described at Grafix.
Work closely with management and engineering staff to ensure efficient and safe methods are utilized in producing high quality aerospace components.
Perform programming, set up and run the engineering projects on Hurco machine.

Prepare your printing press machinist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your printing press machinist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a printing press machinist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable printing press machinist resume templates

Build a professional printing press machinist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your printing press machinist resume.