If you are seeking employment or freelance work doing desktop publishing then you need to determine exactly how you or a potential employer are defining desktop publishing. If it is strictly production work — the mechanical process of preparing files created by others for printing — then your technical desktop publishing and software skills are the key. You will most likely be taking materials prepared by graphic designers or others and simply making them press-ready.
However, if, by "do desktop publishing" you mean creating brochures, newsletters, ads, fliers, or other print projects from concept all the way through to preparing the digital files for printing then more graphic design training and knowledge is important because then you are involved in the creative process of preparing effective print communications as well as the mechanical desktop publishing process.
