Hello! I’m applying for the Work Based Learning, Data Center Operations Technician program in chantilly VA.

Curious to know if anyone has experience in this program and know what I can expect with the interview process.

Will it be in person or remote?

Either way, I am preparing by studying the interview info on the Amazon jobs website.

I have previous experience in help desk and I am very excited to be more hands on.

Thankful for any info!

Finished my interview process for an L1 tech position recently. My recruiter reached out and told me that I got all positive feedback and they may end up starting me at L2 instead but it’s not guaranteed. Does anybody have any insight into pay ranges for these roles? I found conflicting info everywhere I searched

I'm curious as to which country is at the forefront of building new DCs and is likely to have the most demand for engineers and technicians

What's the usual salary range for a Data Center Manager role at AWS? I'm in Montreal, Canada, so I'm guessing it's different from what folks in the States get. I’m curious about a ballpark figure for negotiation purposes, specifically for base salary excluding sign in bonus.

Currently in the interview pipeline, so any insights would be great.

Thanks!

EDIT: Is $95,000 CAD a reasonable ask for base salary? (Excluding benefits + sign in bonus)

Position: DCO Manager

I’m wondering how much an average data center (say, 20MW) spends on power each year. Is it a sizable chunk of the expenses of running a data center? How much of a difference in the purchasing price of power makes a real difference in annual data center operating expenses? Is saving a cent per kW a big deal? Thanks.

Hey Everyone! So I’ve worked with data centers and doing energy efficiency projects. In the past most are willing to leave alone incentive or rebate dollars. But I was able to help them with that stuff. It depends on the locality but some rebates or incentives are significant. Anyway, to my question/ask: I am trying to reach out to and get more buy-in from people working within these DCs, mostly hyperscalers, so I can help them with their rebates. I frame it as “free money from the utility”. I am very well versed in doing this kind of work but it’s getting the developers to work with me especially now that I am not working with the utility. First, do you all have any feedback? One person I was able to reach said “oh! we hire people to do this” but I have it on good authority that they do not participate in at least one large program. I don’t reveal my sources because I don’t want to sour any of my relationships. Second, how do I get to these people or at least get them to buy in? I am thinking about going to the manufacturers and their local sales reps and seeing if I can work as a proxy midstream data center efficiency person. Finding data center people who aren’t cagey is near impossible. They won’t even share good info with the utilities. Anyway, any and all feedback is helpful.

Hi all, I started a couple weeks ago as a data center tech. It is my first job like this, as I previously have worked in warehousing and logistics but I recently completed my I.T. degree and considering how saturated the job market is, I took this job to get my foot in the door.

The recruiter made it sound like it should be easy to get on full-time with Microsoft, as long as you show up, do your job with a positive attitude, and be willing to help out others during downtime rather than sit around on your phone. He claims most contracted techs go full time sometime within 5 to 9 months.

I have really enjoyed the job so far, but just wanted to get some feedback from this sub on any experiences starting as contract and going to full time, if it is as easy as I am told, or is the recruiter just trying to get me in the door to make a buck?

Hi, What is the starting salary for a Amazon L2 Rack Decom technician in Frankfurt? Also what would an L3 get?
Thanks

Is this a realistic move? I live near the “data center alley” and want to get into IT. I was considering the help desk role but I was told that my skills may transfer. Can this job be used as a stepping stone into IT in other areas? Thanks

Why is AWS fixated on this area? Do they just own the city/town at this point? From what I've looked into its not near anything notable. Does anyone work over there, or can share the appeal of the area? My guess is that it is unappealing which is why there are so many postings for that location for them.

How much time does does google take to send their feedback after the interview?

Hi there, I’m wondering if there is a difference between a data center and a cloud computing center. Are there centers that are just for computing and not storing data? Thanks.

Iooking for some advice on edge compute workloads.

There is a lot of chatter about AI training and AI inference. The former of which is clearly not latency sensitive and is more TCO sensitive.

Can anyone tell me what kind of demands you are seeing at the inference layer? Training of course super dense equipment - DGX etc. requiring demanding thermal requirements but what sits at the inference layer? It’s more latency sensitive but is the workload dense in terms of compute capacity or it is more “traditional” I.e 5/7kw / rack.

I am trying to understand what workloads are being run at the edge (excluding CDN, vRAN and other hardware accelerated loads) - is inference compute dense it its requirements? What are the use cases and what are Colo tenants demanding in terms of power density? - is it just a latency demand and not a dense compute demand?

Thanks!

I just finished the screening interview and was told to watch some videos and read up on data centers for my first interview ( the technical one ). Does anyone have recommendations as what to study or watch? My only experience is being a Electronic Technician on a submarnie, but that was about 10 months ago so I need to refresh myself.

*Note, the technician would be for electrical

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-02/data-centers-now-need-a-reactor-s-worth-of-power-dominion-says?embedded-checkout=true

So I have an offer to go work at a data center BUT they want me to go to the Cheyenne WY location. Would this be worth taking? I’m not too keen on living there but I would be willing to make the move if it’s a good opportunity. I think having Microsoft on the resume would look great and maybe I could use this as a stepping stone? Idk I’ve seen comments saying it’s dead end so if that’s the case maybe it isn’t worth the move. What are your thoughts? My goal ultimately is to move up.

Anyone know of any universal sliding rails for switches? Not shelves, instead of ears actual sliding rails for switches. Just curious if it exists, tried searching, can't find such a thing.

Whats the dress code like at google datacenters? Currently work at AWS where dress code is super lax

Maybe a silly question but as someone new to the data center field, dress shoes or sneakers? Jeans or slacks? Polo shirt or dress shirt? As my first day of work is approaching, I want to be presentable but my job is a technician. I asked my POC and was firmly told “just business casual”. Just trying to get a professional but realistic way to show up to starting this job from people in the field. Thanks

I was looking to find out what folks are seeing salary wise for mission critical design like at Vantage, WSP, Oracle etc etc. I have 5 year experience in MEP with a PE and I am looking to enter the Data Center space. Pretty much brand new to the space.

What are the low end and high end of the spectrum salaries I can expect over the lifetime of my career in design?

Hey everyone,

I just passed the online assessment for Google's data center technician job, I know the interview will probably be technical. I have an Associates in Network Admin, I have worked with servers too. Just need to know what I should be expecting and how I can prepare? I know CompTIA has a Server + l, is this worth it? Anything that can help. Thanks!

Hi! As someone with no knowledge in the space, would anybody know what quantity of low- and medium-voltage cable is needed to build a data center? And how much the cables cost? I am guessing different kinds of cables are needed outside the datacenter and inside it. Thanks a lot!

I applied for AWS Data Center Fac. Eng. I passed the first call interview, then did the second interview (4 hours) few weeks back. But have not got a response yet. I am being told to hold on until one of my interviewers give a response. I don't want to say the interview went well, but I did my best. The job is still opened as I post, So I am scared to be honest. Anyone has an idea what it is like in such a situation?

What should I best prepare for re the interview content? Understanding of cooling, power systems and equipment aside.

Am coming from a tech/IT role so am not unfamiliar with protocols and architecture.

I interviewed with MS last month I think it went alright, totally up in the air if I'll get the offer or not. They told me 7 to 10 days for a response and it's been a month now. I reached out to the recruiter and she said it's due to fiscal year ending and budget things but they're working on it..

Really just curious if it took this long for other DCTs? Also would you email the recruiter again for a status update. I was planning to send something like: Is this job posting still vacant? I know we spoke briefly two weeks ago but I'm curious on if there is any expected timeline, as it's now been over double the time I was quoted for a response.

Or something of the sort. I'm def eager to hear the news. Tired of waiting tbh.

Hello,

Since our equipment (Jun MX80, couple juniper switches too) is getting old (EOL) and we are looking to expand our DC by adding 120 more racks. We contacted with Juniper and they gave us a quote. MX10004's with 100G cards, couple QFX5120's for spine and leaf architecture. But as everyone knows here their licensing and next Day support oversells are is Just a joke 😂😂. They quote too much for those and they are forcing you to buy. Since we are happy with our old MX's, we are looking to buy 10004's!

But for switch part, its completely missing. We contacted with Arista its more expensive. While searching around i saw a presentation about Ruijie's DC things. They say they own the %39 percent about China DC sales. They say they work with China Telefon, Bytedance(tiktok), alibaba etc.

(im looking to contact with extreme networks too)

Do anyone have experiences with their hardware and software? Their quote is nearly half of the juniper and There is no licensing etc.

Also what will be your First thought when someone says they use Ruijie in their datacenter?

Thanks and appreciated.

Hi all,

I was offered a virtual interview for this position out of Hilliard, OH. I was hoping for some clarification from the group.

Maybe it's imposter syndrome, maybe its me reaching for the stars, but I'm not sure if i fit the role in totality. I figure i have a good baseline and could learn the job if given time, but I hear Data Centers are simply built different. I feel like my current role is a seat warmer, and while I'm studying for certs I do better with hands on work.

For experience:

• I have a year of experience in a NOC environment, mostly monitoring, triage, and incident command.
• I finished my A.S. in cybersecurity/net admin and was debating on going for a B.S. in Networking.
• I have a B.A. in Psychology as well as Military and nuclear sector experience.

Questions ranging from basic, to specialized to personal:

• How did your interviews go, and what could you have done better in your experience?

• What does the job entail day to day?

• Assuming its some kind of operational schedule, What kind of working hours can we expect? 8,10, 12?

• Is overtime readily available?

• Did this job set you up for the future career in IT?

• Whats AWS like as far as career growth opportunities? What about pay scales? I currently make around 60k, fully remote, and decent bennies. Would you take the opportunity if presented?

• Finally, what's Ohio like? I'm single in my 30s so I wouldn't mind the move, but i do like a dancing scene and some chill bars.

Thanks in advance for any information provided, I'd be happy to answer more questions as they come up if needed.

Whats up guys, I just wrapped up my junior year of college and am heading into summer break. Unfortunately, the job market has been tough, and I wasn't able to secure an internship. However, I noticed there’s an opening for a data tech position at Oracle, and I'm considering applying.

A bit about my background: I have two years of experience in IT help desk support, plus a year working at a phone repair shop. Academically, I've completed several projects involving SQL, HTML, and JavaScript, which are included on my resume. I’m also familiar with computer hardware and have a basic understanding of Linux.

Given this experience, do you think I might be eligible for an IC2 or even an IC3 position at Oracle? Also, are there specific things I should be aware of or focus on in my application for this role? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated!