Prepress only shift work?

[Made in Taiwan]

Good morning everybody!

I'm gonna start to find a new job soon, have been looking at some job offers already and even found some nice offers, but seems like working in prepress for an offset print shop mostly means shift work. Some shops only have early and late shifts like 6:00 am-2:00 pm/2:00 pm-10:00 pm, others add a night shift like 7:30 pm-3:30 am. Well, I'd not be overjoyed to work shifts, but could probably somehow accept it (except for night shift, since Taiwan is a horribly noisy place during daytime).

Who else here needs to work shifts? I'd like to know if shift work in prepress is common or rather seldom...  
Thanks in advance guys, have a great day! 

[Joe]

I've done shift work since 1978. 2nd shift (3:30 pm - 11:00 pm) at first then switched to 3rd shift (11:00 pm to 6:30 am) when my son was young. Worked day shift sparingly during the last 38 years and have settled onto 2nd shift since 1990. 2nd shift here is 3:30 pm - 2:00 am Tuesday through Friday with a 30 minute lunch break. Love having a 3 day weekend every week and don't mind working the evening hours. I get to miss a lot of the drama during the day shift at work and only see bosses for about 1 - 1.5 hours a day if that much. If I was younger and had young kids I wouldn't care for it but the kid has been grown and gone for quite some time.

[Farabomb]

No, prepress isn't the only shit work.


Oh, that wasn't the question.

[DCurry]

I'm a little confused by the question - is it that you don't want set hours that you are expected to be at work? Every place I've ever worked, including non-printing, I had a start time and end time for my day. All the printshops I've worked in have been fairl flexible, though, so if I needed to come in a little late for a dentist appt. or something it was never an issue.

If there's enough work for a second or third shift, then it needs to be fairly organized - I'm sure multiple people might use the same workstation. Also need to ensure there is proper coverage if the pressman needs something from prepress overnight.

I've always worked 1st shift, but I have young kids so it's better for my home life. If you work 6-2, then you still have a lot of free time before dinner to run errands or whatever.

[David]

shift work here, has been all my life....

used to be 3 full shifts, 7a-3p, 3p-11p, 11p-7a
now we only have two shifts, but there are still 24 hours in the day...   go figure.

[andyfest]

Only day shift here, but we only have 3.75 techs, myself included. We work longer days Mon to Thurs - 7 am - 4 pm, but work a short shift on Friday - 7 am - 1:30 pm. Been doin' that since the 80's. The short Fridays give me a chance to get together with the Molson family.

[Diddler]

I'm currently on the 6am to 2pm shift 5 days and don't mind it, It can get pretty hot and humid from where I am and seeing we don't have daylight saving the sun is usually up by 5am at the latest for most of the year, so I find it better to start early and finish early. The printers here run two shifts 4.30am to 4.30pm and 4.30pm to 4.30am 3 days a week on rotating shifts over 6 days. Bindery run 6am to 2pm and 2pm to 11pm.

[font='Segoe UI']It was much better when I was on the 6am to 6pm Mon - Wed. It gave me a 4 day weekend every week.[/font]

[StudioMonkey]

I worked night shift for a summer, years ago.  10pm - 6am.  I loved it for 2 reasons; the phone never rang and the first deadline was the end of my shift.  None of this 'but the client needs a proof in 30 mins' crap etc.  

Also, with the right radio station the time passes nicely.  Does KPIG still broadcast 24hrs?

[Made in Taiwan]

Thanks a lot for your response everybody!   

Seems like shift work is pretty common for prepress in offset printing. So far I only found one job offer here for offset prepress that was only one shift (actually that job was not in a printing company directly it was a small shop that only makes plates for several other print shops), just like I said above, mostly companies work two or even three shifts. Shifts will be changed every month, so one might end up to work the entire January morning shift, the February late shift, March night shift and so on. I found one company that lets you choose the most suitable shift and once you're hired, you can keep regularly working in that shift only. 

The first, third (and fifth) Saturday of each month you'll mostly have to work. What wonders me is that digital printers or large format printing shops don't need to work shifts, no idea why.

I'm a little confused by the question - is it that you don't want set hours that you are expected to be at work? Every place I've ever worked, including non-printing, I had a start time and end time for my day. All the printshops I've worked in have been fairl flexible, though, so if I needed to come in a little late for a dentist appt. or something it was never an issue.

If there's enough work for a second or third shift, then it needs to be fairly organized - I'm sure multiple people might use the same workstation. Also need to ensure there is proper coverage if the pressman needs something from prepress overnight.

I've always worked 1st shift, but I have young kids so it's better for my home life. If you work 6-2, then you still have a lot of free time before dinner to run errands or whatever.

Sorry for making you confused... :smiley: [font='Segoe UI'] I'm not talking about [/font]flexible working times. I mean real shift work. Something like 6-2, 2-10, 10-6... But I really agree to your point with the family life. My wife would not be amused if I told her I'm going to work shifts.

[pspdfppdfxhd]

Only day shift here, but we only have 3.75 techs, myself included. We work longer days Mon to Thurs - 7 am - 4 pm, but work a short shift on Friday - 7 am - 1:30 pm. Been doin' that since the 80's. The short Fridays give me a chance to get together with the Molson family.

Only day shift here, but we only have 3.75 techs, myself included. We work longer days Mon to Thurs - 7 am - 4 pm, but work a short shift on Friday - 7 am - 1:30 pm. Been doin' that since the 80's. The short Fridays give me a chance to get together with the Molson family.

I hear ya! I've been doing the 1:30 friday myself for the past 20 years or so.