How to become a Data Centre Technician
White space and IT hardware
Keeps the servers, network and cabling in a data hall working: installs and moves equipment, fixes faults, and answers customers’ remote-hands requests.
There’s a page for this role in , with its licences and local details.
What the role does
Works in the white space: racks, cabling, airflow and customers’ remote-hands requests. A ladder beside the facilities ladder, at the same rungs, with moves across in both directions.
What a shift looks like
Shifts on a roster, days and nights, often twelve hours. A walk of the hall, the shift’s tickets, hands-on work at the racks, and a handover to the next crew.
What employers call it
- Datacenter Technician (hyperscale)
- Data Center Operations Technician (hyperscale)
- Data Center Technician II (hyperscale)
- Network Cable Installation Technician (hyperscale)
- Infra Delivery Install Technician (hyperscale)
- Data Center Customer Operations Technician (colocation and wholesale)
- Remote Hands Technician II (colocation and wholesale)
- Service Delivery Technician II (colocation and wholesale)
- Network Infrastructure Technician (colocation and wholesale)
- Union Data Center Installer (FM and service contractor)
- IT Hardware Field Technician (FM and service contractor)
- Data Center Server Repair Technician (hyperscale)
- Data Center IT Operations Technician (hyperscale)
- Data Center Customer Operations III (colocation and wholesale)
- Data Center IT Technician (hyperscale)
- day technician (FM and service contractor)
- data centre technician (cabling and installation) (FM and service contractor)
- installer (data centre) (FM and service contractor)
Skills
The level the role needs in each, on FacilityVR’s five levels from Aware to Authority.
Site safety
- Move equipment and handle loads safely Independent
- Select and use protective equipment Independent
- Electrical safety awareness Assisted
Emergency response
- Evacuate and muster Independent
- Raise the alarm and escalate Independent
- Recognise and report a suspected cyber incident Assisted
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
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
LV distribution
- Connect rack power and busway Assisted
- Work on in-rack DC busbars and power shelves Assisted
Cooling plant
- Psychrometrics and the thermal envelope Assisted
Monitoring and response
- Walk the rounds and take readings Assisted
Physical access and security
- Badge in and out Independent
- Escort visitors and contractors Independent
- Work under the two-person rule Independent
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
Commissioning
- Work in a site that is part live and part under construction Assisted
Licences and credentials
Licences depend on the country you work in, and sometimes the state. The role’s page for Australia lists them there.
Ways in and ways on
From outside the industry
From another data centre role
- From Data Centre Operator, typically 12 months
- From Operations Centre Technician
- From Facilities and IT Technician
Where it leads
- Critical Facilities Operator (a sideways move)
- Senior Data Centre Technician, typically 2 years
- Data Centre Technician, Network, typically 2 years
- Data Centre Technician, Systems, typically 2 years
- Operations Centre Technician (a sideways move)
- Facilities and IT Technician (a sideways move)
Jobs open now
None right now. See every open job.
Questions about data centre careers? Ask about data centre careers
Sources and licences
Occupation codes: 3511 Information and communications technology operations technicians.
- 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)