Demand for data center professionals will be heated by 2025

New data centers and network infrastructures are emerging as more companies outsource IT activities and hire cloud and hosting services as well as other workloads. According to the survey, a large number of data center owners or operators worldwide are struggling to find qualified staff for open job positions (this share reached 50% in 2020; it was 38% in 2018). It may happen more technologies will be developed to automatically operate and manage these facilities, but their effects should be limited at least by 2025, revealed the study.

New data centers and network infrastructures are emerging as more companies outsource IT activities and hire cloud and hosting services as well other workloads. According to the survey, a large number of data center owners or operators worldwide are struggling to find qualified staff for open job positions (this share reached 50% in 2020; it was 38% in 2018). It may happen more technologies will be developed to automatically operate and manage these facilities, but their effects should be limited at least by 2025, revealed the study.

Given this scenario, qualifying and quantifying the data center staffing demand can help professionals who are looking for placement or advancement in their career, data center operators, or even educational institutions to invest in the appropriate fronts in order to meet such demand.

Some findings by geographic region are:

• In the United States and Western Europe, there is concern about a wave of pensions expected in the next decade.
• The highest demand will be in the Asia-Pacific region, driven by the expected growth in the data center capacity in China, parts of Southeast Asia, Australia, and elsewhere.
• Demand in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is expected to be at the same level, with a significant growth forecast.
• In Latin America, growth is expected to be driven by several markets, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.

The findings on demand by data center type are:

• Demand growth will come mainly from data centers with cloud and colocation operations. Cloud data centers will require most professionals by a wide margin.
• Enterprise data centers are expected to continue to employ many experts, although they are expected to be overtaken by cloud data centers after 2025

In terms of education requirements, the study has identified that:

• The estimated demand growth for data center professionals covers more than 230 expert positions for different data center types and sizes, throughout the data center life cycle, from design and construction to operations, but excluded decommissioning.
• Education requirements can vary considerably, even for the same function, in different organizations or different regions. However, we are beginning to see less stringent requirements in some places – relevant experience, internships or on-the-job training can offset the lack of traditional qualification in many positions.

• Mostly, the staffing demand will focus on data center operation continuity. The professionals need to be close to the facilities, sometimes in areas where there are currently few qualified workforces.
• A smaller portion of demand will be focused on the design and construction of new or upgraded facilities.

• In addition, there is concern about the availability of skilled professionals for control and monitoring, since there is a general intention of automating and operating more functions remotely.
• Globally, large companies are investing in more training and qualification initiatives, not only through internal programs but also in conjunction with universities and technical schools.

Details about the Uptime Institute study can be found here.