| Important Core Job Duties (in order of importance) For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 95 (%) | Description: Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece. |
| Importance: 94 (%) | Description: Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment. |
| Importance: 94 (%) | Description: Proofread and perform quality control of text and images. |
| Importance: 91 (%) | Description: Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced. |
| Importance: 86 (%) | Description: Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer. |
| Importance: 73 (%) | Description: Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs. |
| Importance: 71 (%) | Description: Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film. |
Associate Degree Careers and Jobs
Explore Careers and Jobs Predominantly Filled by Those with an Associate's Degree or Less - All On One Page.
Sorted by median annual U.S. salary and including percentage of job holders with Associate's Degree or less.
An associate's degree can open doors to skilled technical, healthcare, and business support roles without the time commitment of a four-year degree. For people who want a faster, more affordable path into a stable career. Compare careers ranked by salary, review degree-holder and experience percentages, and access preparation resources for each role.
Here is a short Helper Video 
.
This page will take you through 4 steps, relative to an Associate's Degree, to (1) Select a career, (2) Find active job listings, (3) Prepare for the career you chose, and (4) Provide web resources specific to the career you chose.
Step 1: Select a Career: You will be presented with a listing of Associate's Degree careers. The list may be quite long. There are two ways you might like to use this list:
1) Filter - As you enter a word, you will filter (limit) the list of careers below
2) Browse the list (Don't Filter) - You can simply browse the list of careers. There may be many that you might never have considered. This may help you to discover careers that might be of interest.
Once you have identified a career of interest, simply click on it.
Step 2: Find a Job: After you have selected a career/job title above, you will see a form asking for your location. You will see several radio selection choices to utilize the job search site of your choice.
Step 3: Prepare For a Career: In this section you will gain access to detailed information to help you prepare for the career you selected. Information includes core and supplemental duties, general and specific work activities, knowledge required, essential and transferable skills required, day-in-the-life summaries, knowledge required, software skills required, preparation required, educational requirements, training and work experience required, local salary information, certifications, professional associations, current job listings for the job selected along with multiple similar job titles, and related careers (related to what they do, what they know, and what they're called).
Step 4: Career-Specific Resources (detailed and constantly updated): Continue to scroll down the page and you will find tabs that will provide detailed (updated) links to occupational information specific to the career you selected. This information includes:
Videos: Provides a listing of video links related to this career. A great way to get a quick overview of the occupation.
Resumes: Sources for resume materials and techniques. This can help to get you started.
Job Description: Sources that provide job descriptions, which are vital to resume and interview preparation.
Interviews: Provides links that can help you to prepare for and successfully complete the job interview.
Step by Step: Provides links to resources that can help to organize the career search process.
LinkedIn: One of the best professional social media sites that provides links, opportunities, and networking specifically for careers and career development.
Step 1 of 4: Select a Career
Leading Books About Associate Degree Jobs
What jobs can you get with an Associate's Degree? Scroll through the picklist (below). These are careers related to the Associate's Degree level, with at least 30% of job holders having an Associate's Degree. - 571 specific careers are listed, with matching jobs currently available. Select those careers that may be of interest - you will then get links to matching active job listings, and detailed resources to help you prepare.
You can use this form two ways:
1) Enter a Keyword - As you enter a keyword, you will filter (limit) the listing to those careers that contain the keyword entered
2) Browse the list (Don't enter a keyword) - You can simply browse the list of careers. There may be many that you might never have considered. This may help you to discover jobs that might be of interest.
OR - leave blank and scroll through the choices:
Select a Job Title - Sorted by Annual Salary -(scroll and Select) :
Legend: Career Title Link / (% having Associate's Degree or less) / (Median Annual U.S. Salary)
Step 2 of 4: Find a Job
Job Listings for: Prepress Technicians and Workers.
Step 3 of 4: Prepare For a Career
Prepare for the "Prepress Technicians and Workers" Career
The details below will provide a pathway to your specific job goal and help you to identify an appropriate career ladder.
Prepress Technicians and Workers
Description: Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Includes digital and photo typesetting. May produce printing plates.
Please click on a section below to expand and see detailed occupational information related to "Prepress Technicians and Workers":
U.S. Total Employment (2023):
28,200U.S. Total Employment (2033 est.):
23,300
Employment Change (2023-2033 est.):
-4,800 (-17.1%) Average Annual Job Openings (2023-2033 est.):
3,000
Core Duties
Supplemental Duties
| Important Supplemental Job Duties (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 55 (%) | Description: Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making. |
| Importance: 53 (%) | Description: Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers. |
| Importance: 46 (%) | Description: Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color. |
| Importance: 43 (%) | Description: Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes. |
| Importance: 36 (%) | Description: Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing. |
| Importance: 33 (%) | Description: Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths. |
| Importance: 32 (%) | Description: Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate. |
| Importance: 26 (%) | Description: Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels. |
Work Activities
| Important General Work Activities (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 92 (%) | Description: Working with Computers: Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. |
| Importance: 87 (%) | Description: Getting Information: Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. |
| Importance: 83 (%) | Description: Making Decisions and Solving Problems: Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. |
| Importance: 83 (%) | Description: Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge: Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. |
| Importance: 83 (%) | Description: Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates: Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. |
| Importance: 80 (%) | Description: Thinking Creatively: Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. |
| Importance: 75 (%) | Description: Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work: Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. |
| Importance: 73 (%) | Description: Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings: Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems. |
| Importance: 70 (%) | Description: Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events: Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. |
| Importance: 70 (%) | Description: Scheduling Work and Activities: Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others. |
| Importance: 69 (%) | Description: Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information: Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity. |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials: Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects. |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Controlling Machines and Processes: Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles). |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Processing Information: Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. |
| Importance: 66 (%) | Description: Training and Teaching Others: Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships: Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others: Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others: Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used. |
| Importance: 64 (%) | Description: Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People: Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people. |
| Importance: 62 (%) | Description: Documenting/Recording Information: Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. |
| Importance: 60 (%) | Description: Communicating with People Outside the Organization: Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail. |
Specific Work Activities
| Important Specific Work Activities
How can you begin to build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. Specific Work Activities appear below: |
|
| Clean production equipment. | |
| Enter commands, instructions, or specifications into equipment. | |
| Examine condition of property or products. | |
| Inspected printed materials or other images to verify quality. | |
| Maintain production or processing equipment. | |
| Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications. | |
| Monitor equipment operation to ensure that products are not flawed. | |
| Operate digital imaging equipment. | |
| Operate photographic developing or print production equipment. | |
| Program equipment to perform production tasks. | |
| Repair production equipment or tools. | |
| Select production equipment according to product specifications. | |
Knowledge Required
| Knowledge Required (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 78 (%) | Description: Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming. |
| Importance: 71 (%) | Description: English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar. |
| Importance: 69 (%) | Description: Design: Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models. |
| Importance: 66 (%) | Description: Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Production and Processing: Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods. |
| Importance: 63 (%) | Description: Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. |
Essential Skills
| Essential Skills (in order of importance)
These are the foundational skills most central to success in this occupation. For the Top 5 most important, how can you begin building experience and confidence using these skills now? |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action. |
Transferable Skills
| Transferable Skills (in order of importance)
These are skills that can transfer across occupations and industries. For the Top 5 most important, how can you strengthen these skills now so they support both this career and future career flexibility? |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others. |
Day-in-the-Life Summaries
| Day-in-the-Life Summaries These summaries show the main types of activities you are likely to perform on a regular basis in this occupation. How can you imagine your typical workday — using these examples to see if this type of work fits you? |
| Activity: Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas. |
| Activity: Inspect characteristics or conditions of materials or products. |
| Activity: Inspect completed work or finished products. |
| Activity: Maintain tools or equipment. |
| Activity: Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment. |
| Activity: Monitor equipment operation. |
| Activity: Operate industrial processing or production equipment. |
| Activity: Process digital or online data. |
| Activity: Program computer systems or production equipment. |
| Activity: Repair tools or equipment. |
| Activity: Select materials or equipment for operations or projects. |
Software Skills
|
Software Skills These are examples of software tools commonly used in this occupation, organized from most to least important for your career preparation. How can you start learning or practicing the highest-priority tools so that you feel confident using them on the job? |
| High-Priority Tech Skills |
| Desktop publishing software: |
| Adobe InDesign |
| Graphics or photo imaging software: |
| Adobe Creative Cloud software Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop |
| Office suite software: |
| Microsoft Office software |
| Spreadsheet software: |
| Microsoft Excel |
| Emerging Tech Skills |
| Document management software: |
| Adobe Acrobat |
| Electronic mail software: |
| Microsoft Outlook |
| Presentation software: |
| Microsoft PowerPoint |
| Word processing software: |
| Microsoft Word |
| General Software Tools |
| Desktop publishing software: |
| Adobe FrameMaker Adobe PageMaker Esko ArtPro QuarkXPress |
| Document management software: |
| Adobe LifeCycle Enterprise Suite Global Graphics Software Harlequin |
| Graphics or photo imaging software: |
| Adobe FreeHand MX Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite Corel Painter LaserSoft Imaging SilverFast Ai Studio |
| Internet browser software: |
| Web browser software |
| Internet protocol IP multimedia subsystem software: |
| File transfer protocol FTP software ProjectSend |
| Optical character reader OCR or scanning software: |
| Hamrick Software VueScan Multi-line optical character reader OCR software |
| Video creation and editing software: |
| Adobe Director |
Preparation Required
| Preparation Required - How much preparation is needed to obtain this type of job? |
| Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed |
| Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job. |
| Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. |
| Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations. |
| These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include hydroelectric production managers, desktop publishers, electricians, agricultural technicians, barbers, court reporters and simultaneous captioners, and medical assistants. |
Education Required
| Education Required - by frequency of educational attainment This shows you details about the level of education most commonly held by workers in this occupation. How can you begin planning the educational pathway that will prepare you best for this type of work? |
|
| Frequency of Attainment (%) | Level of Education |
| Frequency of Attainment: 39.3 (%) | Level of Education: High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) |
| Frequency of Attainment: 23.2 (%) | Level of Education: Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) |
| Frequency of Attainment: 20.7 (%) | Level of Education: Some College Courses |
| Frequency of Attainment: 9.5 (%) | Level of Education: Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) |
| Frequency of Attainment: 5.2 (%) | Level of Education: Bachelor's Degree |
| Frequency of Attainment: 2.1 (%) | Level of Education: Less than a High School Diploma |
Training and Experience Required
| Training and Experience Required - by frequency of training and work experience attainment This section shows you how often different types of training and work experience are required for this occupation. How can you start gaining the kinds of experience and training that are most common for this type of work? |
|
| Frequency of Attainment (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience |
| Frequency of Attainment: 37.5 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 21.9 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 16.6 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year |
| Frequency of Attainment: 14.3 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 3.7 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: None |
| Frequency of Attainment: 2.8 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 6 years, up to and including 8 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 2.1 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Up to and including 1 month |
| Frequency of Attainment: 1.1 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 8 years, up to and including 10 years |
Local Salary Information
Select a State (scroll and Select) :
Please select a State to see State and National Salaries
Job Listings
Related Careers to Consider
Step 4 of 4: Career-Specific Resources (detailed and constantly updated)
This section contains detailed resources appropriate to "Prepress Technicians and Workers". Explore these resources to start learning more. Links are constantly updated, so bookmark this page.
Videos
Here is a listing of videos related to this career. A great way to get a quick overview of the occupation.
Resumes
Here are resources that allow you to see example resumes for this occupation. It may be helpful to see examples from others who have this type of experience.
Job Description
Here are resources that provide job descriptions, which are vital for resume and interview preparation.
Interviews
There are many great resources that can help guide you through the interview process. These links provide help in preparing and performing an effective interview, specific to this occupation.
Step-by-Step
Here are links to help guide you, step-by-step, to become a(n): Prepress Technicians and Workers
LinkedIn®
Here are links to various posts and groups from LinkedIn ® that relate to this occupation. Great way to start building professional contacts in the field that might be most appropriate for you.
Developed by Dr. Ralph Jagodka, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus of Business Management at Mt. San Antonio College and author of the Harvard Business Impact article "What to Do When Students Ask You for Career Advice." - Full bio. © 2026 About This Page
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