The exponential growth of internet usage and cloud computing has driven the demand for data centers and it has been accelerated by the pandemic.
With the increasingly digitized economy, there is a parallel increase in talent demand to fulfill the needs in the sector, which in turn leads to challenges in shortages of certified skill sets.
Despite the challenges, the data center industry offers relevant certification programs, highly competitive salaries, high job satisfaction, and access to the latest technology and equipment which can allow for a rewarding career.
In this part of our Remote Hands Series, we will touch on some of the roles that the industry offers and will focus on areas closer to the network domain. We will share some pointers required to be a good Remote Hands Engineer, potential career opportunities, and various roles associated with remote hands service in the data center industry.
Part 4: Opportunities working in a data center.
Though data centers may house major technology, the roles within them may require skills beyond technology. The roles and responsibilities of a data center infrastructure staff can be quite broad ranging from design and construction to equipment installation, the operation, and maintenance of it, network & systems configuration and testing, mechanical and electrical equipment, etc. In order to meet this demand, we have taken a different approach to help widen the pool of talents by tapping from other industries and providing the training and skills transfer. So what are some of the roles and areas in the data center?
- IT & Telecommunication management
- Project management
- Network Engineering
- Application Management
- Security
- Cloud Computing
- Facilities management
- Real Estate management
- Customer Experience
- Sales and Marketing
Skills needed to be a good Remote Hands Engineer:
Since this series focuses on Remote Hands, we will do a deeper dive into it and talk about the prerequisites and its career paths in the network and operational domain. The data centers, being a critical environment, requires a person who has a high level of professionalism, is passionate about technology, carries a strong analytical skill with attention to detail, and the technical competence in their domain. It may include the following skills:
- IT Management – Have an understanding of the IT and Technology processes, operations and resources matters.
- Project Management – Have an understanding of the project management cycle, using established procedures, PM principles, and processes to delivering the project from design to completion.
- Network Management – Ability to understand networking and connectivity concepts and have a high level of design, configuration, troubleshooting expertise for the deployment of network systems.
- Technical Skillsets – You can’t worry about getting your hands dirty, with the basic knowledge of networks there are many physical elements in the roles to install, deploy, and test the physical equipment and cabling connectivity.
In addition to technical skillsets, soft skills are an important part of the Remote Hands roles and have a big impact on delivering a satisfying customer experience. Remote Hands Engineers are expected to be client-facing and interact directly with the customers as a requisite in their daily job. They must develop soft skills as part of their responsibilities:
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Patience & Attentiveness
- Ability to communicate clearly
- Good team player
- Emotional intelligence
- Ability to use positive language
- Tenacity
- Empathy
- Provide Customer Oriented Service
- Willingness to learn
Career Progression – Remote Hands in the Data Center
As you gain experience, to be able to manage and handle more complex projects and deployments promotions are a natural progression. Some may see Remote Hands as an entry-level role but it can be roughly further expanded into three tiers.
Level 1 – Providing the first tier support, usually supporting the least technical issues. Basic support and troubleshooting, visual observation, phone support, collecting customer requests, and escalation to the next level.
Level 2 – More experience and competence with racking and stacking, cabling, handles configuration, troubleshooting, OS installations, hardware installation, and replacement.
Level 3 – A subject matter expert handling difficult and advanced technical issues.
There are further levels of career progression and that depends on technical expertise and interest, but some roles are always in higher demand than others across the data center industry as listed below:
Data Center Operations Engineer:
A Data Center Operations Engineer is responsible for deploying and maintaining servers in the data center. Attention to detail and documentation skills are critical to being successful in this position.
Datacenter Network Engineer:
Data Center Network Engineer plays a diverse role in standardizing and monitoring the day-to-day operations of the Network Operations Centers (NOCs). It helps to connect physical and network-based devices to the required devices of the data center facilities. Connections between nodes in the data center infrastructure to ensure that these nodes communicate and transfer data to internal and external environments after validation.
IT Project Manager
IT project managers plan, organize, and integrate cross-functional information technology projects with considerable scope and impact. They coordinate the work of other IT professionals and administrative staff to create new systems. Project managers have ultimate responsibility for meeting the needs of the company or the client.
With the great career benefits and increasing demand for skilled professionals in the data center sector, we are hoping to see more people coming to join this growing industry.
That’s it for this article. Till then, stay safe & stay tuned for Part 5 of the series about Remote Hands.
Our Remote Hands team covers countries across the Asia Pacific and offers both Remote Hands as well as Smart Hands Services. Let us show you how we can assist you with all your remote projects and operations, while you focus on your core business. Contact us click here.
PS: If you missed our last series, Click on the link to read Part 3: The Endless List Of Do’s And Don’ts When Working In Data Centers. Or Follow us on Linkedin for more articles coming your way.
