As the world becomes increasingly digitized and interconnected, data centers continue to play an increasingly critical role in business and everyday life. The sector is growing rapidly in response, but this expansion requires a larger – and more diverse – workforce. There are concerns over the industry’s ability to meet its staffing needs.
According to our 2021 Global Data Center Annual Survey of IT and data center managers, 47% of respondents reported difficulty finding qualified candidates for open jobs (up from 38% in 2018), while over 30% are having trouble retaining staff (see Figure 1). As one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, data centers offer a broad range of job types and opportunities for career growth. So why the disconnect? There are several contributing factors.
Figure: 1 Data center managers struggle to retain staff
One of the sector’s workforce pipeline challenges is that far too manypeople are unaware of the varied career options available. There is also a concern that many employees in some mature digital infrastructure markets, such as the USA and Western Europe, are due to retire around the same time, causing an additional surge in demand, particularly for senior roles.
How many people does the industry need? Our forecast of data center workforce needs (reported by region, data center type and education requirements) shows that global staff requirements will grow from about 2 million full-time employee equivalents in 2019 to nearly 2.3 million by 2025 (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Data center staff requirements to see continued growth
The sector will need to attract nearly a third of a million additional full-time employee equivalents over the next few years, including on-staff, full-time and part-time employees and contractors. The requirements span all data center job roles and levels, and all geographic regions worldwide.
Industry leadership and collaboration
Meeting data center staffing demand is by no means an insurmountable challenge. All employers can and are taking steps to better evangelize digital infrastructure career opportunities, and rework recruiting and training strategies to build a robust, diverse talent pipeline. Industry leaders are also launching initiatives designed to address the data center workforce dilemma.
Today is International Data Center Day, a program launched by 7x24 Exchange International in 2019 to address the lack of qualified candidates and diversity within the digital infrastructure market. Each year, industry players rally together to raise awareness about data centers, and to inspire and grow the next generation of talent. Participants share resources to educate future data center professionals at the elementary, high school and college levels, host events, promote internship and mentorship opportunities, and much more. Get involved here.
Uptime Institute recently launched a new awareness tool, Data Center Career Pathfinder (Career Pathfinder), a free online resource developed in collaboration with Google, Meta and Microsoft. It offers the first comprehensive taxonomy of digital infrastructure job roles. Based on Uptime Institute’s analysis of real-world job domains and job types, the Career Pathfinder breaks down hundreds of career possibilities to help people from all backgrounds and skill levels better understand the unseen world of data centers and the many career paths it offers.
The Career Pathfinder is not a job site. It is an exploratory tool that helps to define the more than 230 different types of data center job roles carried out today. It spans all specialist job roles involved in data center design, construction and operation - from sustainability strategy, operations engineering and design to IT hardware, business support and more. The resource includes valuable information for each role, including minimum education requirements and core competencies to help those considering a data center career connect their unique background and skillset to job roles at a high level.
This tool is meant to educate and invite a diverse range of people into the sector by providing a source of verified industry information for students, job seekers, job changers, workforce returners and anyone else considering their future career journey. Governments, educational institutions and industry groups can also use the Career Pathfinder to support efforts to expand curricula, training and other programs specific to the data center industry. It also links to the job sites of key collaborators, as well as various industry groups and other resources the next generation of data center professionals can use throughout their careers.
As the data center sector continues its rapid expansion, meeting the rising demand for qualified job candidates to fill new roles will remain a pressing challenge in most regions. International Data Center Day and Career Pathfinder are just two among the many initiatives that can help to drive awareness of the myriad career opportunities, and invite people from a wide range of backgrounds.
