What Skills You Need
to Become a Data Center Technician

Maintenance and Inventory

Part of your job as a data center technician will be to keep track of all warranties on equipment, keeping watch over anything that needs repairing, and carrying out basic repairs on your own.

Anytime there’s a network breakdown or problem, everyone will look to you for troubleshooting. You need to understand the issues that keep coming back and you must ensure that work is done on time and to the best of your abilities.

Administration

Dealing with emergency backups will be part of your job description as well. It will be your duty to keep things running if operations suddenly come to a halt or something disturbs the productivity of the data center. You must be equipped to handle that quickly and effectively.

You need to deliver when service requests are made and be decisive and timely in your response to ensure that the company can reach its objectives no matter what happens.

This is in addition to documenting the state that the equipment is in, arranging timesheets and revising all the work happening in the data center. Basically, administrative skills are of great importance if you want to be a data center technician.

Handling Hardware

Lots of people in the data center field are IT people who know all about networks, storage, applications, virtualization, etc. But many of them don’t know how to manage your power, cooling and electromagnetic fields.

Do you know your way around a router? Do you know how monitors and switches work? Well, you’ll have to, because computer hardware is something that a data center technician needs to know.

It is even better if you know your way around the different components that make up a computer because a lot of the problems experienced by data centers have to do with hardware going haywire.

Nowadays, IT people are expected to do facilities work as well because the two are becoming more enmeshed as the data center industry continues to grow.

Analysis

Analysis should also be one of your strong suits and it’s important that you recognize the need for preventative maintenance. You must monitor equipment and carry out repairs or maintenance if the situation calls for it.

You also need to keep an eye on the operations in the data center, making sure that the workflow leaves nothing to be desired.

When it comes to the law, data center technicians are the ones to guarantee compliance with the rules of the region. This will call you on you to have some knowledge of technology legislation in the area. if it turns out that your company has been involved in a violation of the law, you’ll have to have to answer for that.

Assistance

How good are you at working in a team? If you can’t stand to work in a group, then you can’t work in a data center facility. At times you will need to work with senior engineers to get things done. Other times you will have to work with others to deal with customer complaints.

Mostly, you’ll be leading the way for junior-level employees in the company, so social skills and the ability to tag-team should be in your arsenal if you hope to have a career as a data center technician.

Technical Skills

Do you know how computer networks operate? Are you familiar with the different computer operating systems available? Do you know anything about computer programming or system design? These are some of the first skills that you’ll be checked for when you apply to be a data center technician.

Flexibility

Attention to detail is a valued skill as well as the agility to quickly manage unexpected system issues. Both of these require a certain level of flexibility. If you get a position as part of the Network Operations Center for instance, you will be expected to monitor different systems from power to air conditioning, electricity, and network activity, to ensure that the data center is working optimally at all times.

Passion

People come into this field from all walks of life but what connects them is a passion and curiosity about technology and IT. Since this is going to be your daily life technology might as well be your interest. You must have a passion for computers, IT, and systems.

Remember that technology is in everything that we do, and as a data center technician you’re empowering people to take part in the technology revolution so you should take pride in your work.

This can be an extremely rewarding and challenging job because you’re giving people the computing capacity to do their work better, faster and more reliably. The smallest job that you do can affect someone across the world whose work and livelihood depends on you keeping alive the cloud servers they depend upon.

The Usual

As you can see, the main important skills that you need as a data center technician include an understanding of computer hardware and technical skills. But, even in a data center facility, customer service skills are in demand. You also need skills that’ll serve you well in the planning cycle of a data center, which means you must understand the business and the physical erection of the data center building and fit out.

What about problem-solving skills and first aid training? As a data center technician, you’ll have to be ready for anything, so make sure you have these skills in order to land a job at a data center facility.

Happy job hunting!

The Skills You Need Guide to Getting a Job

What Skills You Need to Become a Data Center Technician