Apprenticeship as a printing technician specialising in digital printing

Digital printing is now one of the most common printing processes. That is the main reason why digital printing technicians never get bored… Photo books, posters, flyers, business cards, as well as packaging, labels and personalised direct mail. Printing technicians specialising in digital printing are ‘all-rounders’…who not only ensure that the design concept from the digital world makes it to the printing press, but also make sure that the best possible result is delivered. Sounds like a huge amount of responsibility. It certainly is! But that’s precisely what makes this apprenticeship so interesting.

What exactly do digital printing technicians do?

Every standard home printer works on the principle of digital printing. And if you’ve ever stood there at a loss in front of such a printer, struggled with formatting issues, been completely dissatisfied with the colours in the printout, had to deal with a paper jam in the middle of the job and suddenly found that nothing was working at all, then you know just how important the work of digital printing technicians really is!

Thanks to the enormous time savings in pre-press preparation, digital printing has radically transformed the printing industry! As no fixed print template is required (as is the case with offset printing, for example), smaller and more personalised print runs can also be produced, such as the photo books, flyers or business cards mentioned above. However, this requires the digital data to be prepared for printing, the printing presses to be correctly set up and controlled, and ongoing quality checks to be carried out.

The digital printing technicians – the chosen ones

You can picture it something like this: the digital printing technicians are a bit like Neo in Matrix. They see their goal in the complex world of digital data – amidst the zeros and ones, that is, between customer requirements, materials, colours and the capabilities of the printing presses. They achieve these goals and, in the end, hold the perfect printed result in their hands.  

This is actually almost a bit more exciting than what Neo does day in, day out, because the printing technicians need: 

• Skill in setting up the printing presses
• ‘Den Blick’ in the quality control of printed products
• Technical understanding of setting up and operating printing presses, troubleshooting machine faults and carrying out maintenance work
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Logical and analytical thinking when identifying the causes of errors (for example, in the case of poor print results)
• Responsiveness and swift action in the event of faults during the printing process
• Autonomy in controlling and monitoring the printing process
• General ability to learn, as in digital printing in particular, one never stops learning (for example, when it comes to new equipment and printing processes)
• Mental resilience: tight deadlines and working to time constraints – things often get hectic in the print shop!

Your career prospects as a digital printing technician

In summary, the future looks very bright for digital printing technicians. Why? Because digital printing, in particular, is certain to continue developing rapidly in the future, given individual customer requirements and new technical possibilities. Whether in small or large print shops, in copy shops or in companies with in-house printing departments, digital printing technicians have huge potential and good prospects on the job market.

Why should I choose to train as a printing technician at druck.at?

It’s quite simple: at druck.at, Austria’s largest online printing company, you’ll be working with both state-of-the-art printing presses and one of the largest order volumes. So by the end of your apprenticeship, you’ll be able to say: “I’ve seen, tried and printed almost everything!”

Key facts about the printing technician apprenticeship at druck.at:

• Duration of the apprenticeship: 3.5 years
• Duration of vocational training: 10 weeks per full academic year / 5 weeks per half-year
• Why choose a career as a digital printing technician? Digital printing technicians act as a sort of translator, converting digital data for the printing press; they can deliver flexible print results and are ‘jack-of-all-trades’ in the print shop.