From IT support to Facilities and IT Technician
A way in from outside the industry.
There’s a page for this pathway in , with its licences and local details.
What’s different
Brings hardware and fault-finding; learns the power and cooling plant as well as the hall.
Skills to build
What a Facilities and IT Technician needs. Some of it will come with your background.
Physical access and security
- Badge in and out Independent
- Escort visitors and contractors Independent
- Work under the two-person rule Independent
White space and IT hardware
- Build cages, trays and cabinets Independent
- Carry out remote-hands requests Independent
- Decommission equipment and handle media Independent
- Install and test a cross-connect Independent
- Keep hot and cold aisles right Independent
- Patch and trace cabling Independent
- Rack and stack equipment Independent
- Receive and install an integrated rack-scale system Independent
- Take electrostatic discharge precautions Independent
- Certify a fibre circuit Assisted
- Inspect and clean fibre Assisted
- Keep cable-plant and circuit records Assisted
- Terminate and splice fibre Assisted
- Work in the meet-me room Assisted
Emergency response
- Evacuate and muster Independent
- Raise the alarm and escalate Independent
- Report an incident or near miss Independent
- Use a portable fire extinguisher Independent
- Recognise and report a suspected cyber incident Assisted
- Rescue from a live electrical incident Assisted
- Respond to a spill or leak Assisted
Procedures and documents
- Follow a standard operating procedure (SOP) Independent
- Carry out a method of procedure (MOP) Assisted
- Complete work orders and maintenance records Assisted
- Keep the shift log and hand over Assisted
Site safety
- Hazards of a critical facility Independent
- Move equipment and handle loads safely Independent
- Select and use protective equipment Independent
- Assess risk and plan safe work Assisted
- Electrical safety awareness Assisted
- Work at height Assisted
- Work under a permit to work Assisted
Monitoring and response
- Walk the rounds and take readings Independent
- Triage DCIM and BMS alarms Assisted
UPS and batteries
- Battery room safety Assisted
LV distribution
- Connect rack power and busway Assisted
- Read loads and capacity Assisted
- Trace the power path and its redundancy Assisted
- Work on in-rack DC busbars and power shelves Assisted
Systems and virtualisation
- Diagnose a fault to a field-replaceable unit in a rack-scale system Assisted
- Use the Linux and Windows command line Aware
Safe isolation
- Isolate and lock out a single energy source Assisted
- Prove dead before touching Assisted
- Remove isolations and restore plant Assisted
Cooling plant
- Psychrometrics and the thermal envelope Assisted
BMS and fire
- Respond to a fire alarm Assisted
Commissioning
- Work in a site that is part live and part under construction Assisted
Power transfer and generation
- Respond to a utility failure Aware
Liquid cooling
- Connect and disconnect a rack’s liquid loop Assisted, desirable
- Liquid-cooled IT and its loops Assisted, desirable
- Respond to a coolant leak or a CDU failure Assisted, desirable
Questions about data centre careers? Ask about data centre careers
Sources and licences
- Critical Facilities reference framework © Facility Labs. (CC BY 4.0)
- ISCO-08, International Labour Organization, as published in ESCO v1.2.1. This service uses the ESCO classification of the European Commission. (Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of Commission documents)