Influence of automation in DC on engineering personnel

According to the Uptime Institute's Data Center Industry Survey 2021, there is still a shortage of skilled workers in the industry, and artificial intelligence is not expected to help solve this problem in the near future. As the demand for digital skills grows, the scarcity is becoming more acute. In addition, today's data center teams increasingly require both operational and development skills.

The data center engineer must still be involved in preventive maintenance of equipment, but also have the technical knowledge to use mobile applications and be able to dig into any type of system and extract telemetry from it. Now everything can be viewed remotely, listened to and touched with the help of software - and this can be done even before the engineer enters the room. This goes beyond the traditional understanding of the structure of data centers and the use of software.

The rise in automation will foster the use of AI and machine learning applications and tools, as well as tools capable of analyzing large amounts of data. This opens up opportunities for people who can work as analysts and data scientists who are able to use the latest tools to extract insights from massive amounts of data.

What new job responsibilities should today's data center professionals prepare for? What kind of education do they need to get or what skills do they need to master?

Data center professionals can handle the transition to new roles in several ways. First, they should be familiar with the underlying architecture of the various public and private clouds. Second, they must hone their skills in critical areas such as infrastructure as code, DevOps, intelligent analytics, data operations, container assembly and operation (Kubernetes), service meshes, and serverless technologies. With this knowledge, they will be well prepared to manage data centers now and in the future.

In many ways, finding a unicorn now means finding someone who combines diagnostic thinking with the ability to work on a technology platform. I don’t think we’ll ever replace a data center engineer, but we will need to combine the two extremes - integrating software and training existing technicians who have attended vocational schools or are certified in electrical engineering and control, ventilation / mechanics and telecommunications / cable structure. It's about the mindset of a mechanic with data overlay.