My name is Jason and I am an addict. Coffee and cigarettes, the best friends of the Prepress Operator. I have been on this steady diet for about 17 years now, whew! time flies. I started doing Prepress as a way to get into the movie business, long story... I ended up in Oklahoma, WTF?! Anyhoo, I used to hate my job up until about 4 years ago, but since I have discovered new life. Not that anything changed, well significantly anyway, I just woke up one day put a cigarette in my mouth, put on my sweats inside-out, and went to work. I realized that I can have tattoos, believe in the devil, have a mohawk and a drinking problem and still be a God to all the churned-out, generic, it-looks-good-on-my-screen, moron designers out there. Point: I have it good, and get paid well. By the way, I don't believe in the devil or have a mohawk.
Being in Oklahoma does have it's advantages. We are about 10 years behind everyone else, so technology has not quite caught up yet. Yes, we have seen the fall of the Service Bureaus about 7 years ago, and the introduction to CTP about 6 years ago. As far as automation or any internet driven workflows, none yet. Since I work at one of Oklahoma's largest offset printing companies, I am in the forefront of Prepress technology in Oklahoma and believe me when I say, there is a lack of good Prepress guys out here. The job market is a little crowded, (due to the onslaught of Vo-Tech newbies) but when it comes to good people, Oklahoma City lacks them. Prepress is a state of mind, of solid work ethic, self-reliance, and of self induced misery when mistakes are made. There are not many people who could amass the knowledge needed to dissect a file in any number of apps, on any number of operating systems, be a competent tech-support person and IT and Graphic Design and color expert and CSR and whatever else I am forgetting. How many people do you know that would sit in front of a computer redoing clipping paths for 53 hours straight with no lunch. You can't learn that, your either born with it or not. Just because a slip of paper states you are "sufficiently" trained to do Prepress, does not mean you are. Many people have said it in this forum, experience comes on-the-job. Well said.
I don't believe I am an expert, and I don't believe 99 out of a hundred people spitting out their qualifications and experience are either. I have worked with hundreds of people doing what I do right now, and maybe 3 have stuck with it. Not because the shitty economy, or the supposed end times for Prepress, it is because they suck. Some people are meant to be gardeners or dentists, some people, a few are meant for Prepress. I am a high-school drop-out and stubborn and a perfectionist, not a good combination, but those qualifications are just the right combo for my job, and that is why I love it. I change jobs every 3-5 years to keep fresh, and I never work anywhere if I am the most competent guy. I need to learn and progress and bounce ideas and have competition. The best way to learn in Prepress is to A. Have the drive, B. Learn from the guy with the shittiest attitude C. Do it yourself, and do it until it is done, off the clock if need be. Remember, to be the best you have to think your the worst.
I am not going to list off all the machines I work on, or the presses I have at my company. It is pointless. Everywhere I work is something different, AGFA, Scitex, Lino, CREO whatever... Komori, Heidelberg, Mitsubishi, Harris I could go on and on. I think the most important thing is to stay current and perfect techno-babble. The bane of Prepress existence is the Salesman, and if you can keep them confused, it makes the days and nights seem so much more enjoyable.
Thanks for reading this crap, and I hope we all strive to accept that our job as Digital Shit-Shovelers will soon be the way of the DoDo.
I think I am going to piss off some Salesman on the way down, smoking, drinking coffee and cussing the whole way.
Jason
