What jobs are in a data center?

data center technician salary google

Google Data Centers are the large data center facilities Google uses to provide their services, which combine large amounts of digital storage (mainly hard drives and solid-state drives), computer nodes organized in aisles of racks, internal and external networking, environmental controls (mainly cooling and dehumidification), and operations software (especially as concerns load balancing and fault tolerance).

There is no official data on how many servers are in Google data centers, but Gartner estimated in a July 2016 report that Google at the time had 2.5 million servers. This number is changing as the company expands capacity and refreshes its hardware.^[1]

As 2018 comes to a close and people start assessing their situations, some people who are data center professionals might consider getting new qualifications or otherwise preparing to fill some of the data center jobs that'll likely be among the most important in 2019. Here are five of them.

1. Data Center Project Manager

A look at the headlines shows that data centers are popping up all over the world, and that trend isn't likely to fade in 2019.

Many well-known companies — Google among them — hire people to oversee data center construction processes. These people must understand how to meet and set expectations, plus have future-oriented mindsets that ensure the new data centers are ready for 2019 and beyond.

It's also likely that data center project managers will be sent to building sites in cities that are gaining momentum as data center hubs. For example, analysts expect that 2019 will be the year Dublin surpasses London as the biggest data center market in Europe.

2. Compliance Officer

The role of a compliance officer is under the umbrella of data center careers that aren't yet well-known, but it's a career that'll become increasingly important as states and countries iron out how to treat different types of data to be in line with the respective laws. This role is especially crucial for people who work in on-premise data centers associated with major companies.

Not being aware of a lack of compliance is not an excuse any business can use to avoid fines or other repercussions. However, bringing a compliance officer on board lets companies proactively steer clear of problems related to improper data handling. Compliance officers can also communicate with the respective bodies that publish the minimum requirements for data center compliance, ensuring facilities stay abreast of updates.

IT compliance is a complex topic that will only become more detailed once states enact laws related to the treatment of data. The rollout of the GDPR happened in May 2018 and forced many companies to change their data storage practices, often by speaking to their data center providers. California will implement data protection measures in 2020, so 2019 is an ideal time for data centers to hire compliance officers.