How to become a Facilities and IT Technician
Facilities and IT (merged)
Runs both the power and cooling plant and the data hall at a site too small for two crews, such as an edge or enterprise site, a small colocation centre or a modular AI site.
There’s a page for this role in , with its licences and local details.
What the role does
Runs both the plant and the white space at a site too small to staff two ladders: edge and enterprise sites, small colocation centres and modular AI sites. The Operator’s facilities work and the Data Centre Technician’s together, with moves across to both ladders. Large sites keep the two apart.
What a shift looks like
Shifts or days with call-out. Plant rounds and alarms, installs and cabling in the hall, vendors to escort, and customers’ requests.
What employers call it
- Data Centre Operator (colocation and wholesale)
- Data Centre Technician (cloud and AI compute)
- Facilities and Data Centre Operations – Technical Generalist (enterprise)
- on-site data centre technician or engineer (FM and service contractor)
- industrial electrical engineer, data centre infrastructure (colocation and wholesale)
Skills
The level the role needs in each, on FacilityVR’s five levels from Aware to Authority.
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
Safe isolation
- Isolate and lock out a single energy source Assisted
- Prove dead before touching Assisted
- Remove isolations and restore plant 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
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
Power transfer and generation
- Respond to a utility failure Aware
UPS and batteries
- Battery room safety Assisted
Cooling plant
- Psychrometrics and the thermal envelope Assisted
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
Monitoring and response
- Walk the rounds and take readings Independent
- Triage DCIM and BMS alarms Assisted
BMS and fire
- Respond to a fire alarm Assisted
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
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
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 IT support to Facilities and IT Technician
- From licensed electrician to Facilities and IT Technician
From another data centre role
- From Critical Facilities Operator, typically 18 months
- From Critical Facilities Technician
- From Data Centre Operator, typically 12 months
- From Data Centre Technician
Where it leads
- Critical Facilities Technician (a sideways move)
- Data Centre 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: 7412 Electrical mechanics and fitters.
- 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)