Mission Critical: Anatomy of the DC Operator - Introduction

The topic of skills is often discussed among the data center thought leaders. Many themes attempting to identify the factors shaping this issue emerge during these discussions.

So, what can we do?

What I can do is offer some insight into what I believe it takes to be successful in our industry. The information I will present in this series of articles will be a fresh take on the topic of skills and their relationship with the data center environment. For now, I will provide some background information on the topic and lay the foundation for future articles in this series.

Isn't this what training and education programs are for?

If we are honest, most organizations are ill-equipped to launch the types of training programs necessary to meet our needs. A lot of time After all, we try to convince people they aren't "in the data center business" and leave it to the professionals, so why would we expect to be in the training business? The next viable option is academia. However, academia isn't necessarily addressing the problem either. It just takes too much time to develop a curriculum with how rapidly the industry changes. (Insert memory of learning with outdated software or hardware at a university here). Another interesting concept is that there isn't agreement between universities and executive leaders on the effectiveness of academic programs. A study conducted by ACT found that 56% of Chief Academic Officers say that their programs properly equip students with the skills needed to enter the workforce. Only 11% of executives agree [1]. The next and perhaps the most viable are certification programs. This solution has provided a happy medium between the two options. This has been the established education medium in technology for quite some time. The emphasis of these certification programs is hyper-focused on the education of the topic. However, if certification programs were "the" solution to the problem would the problem still exist?

Cool story... Seems like a simple fix. What's the problem?

Regardless of these factors, the fact is that organizations are stuck with dealing with the consequences. Savvy organizations have adopted strategies to minimize the issue while others are still feeling the effects of these gaps in skills. There is a limited pool of individuals that everyone is competing for. Either those people need to be recruited into your organization or other strategies are necessary. One strategy that has been successful for some organizations is incorporating more soft-skills into their search for candidates [2]. The thought process is that hard skills can be taught through on-the-job training. As you can imagine, this strategy is not without its challenges either. It requires tremendous effort from the team to bring newcomers up to speed. Admittedly, I tend to approach this problem in this way. Of course, I'm not minimizing the importance of formalized education. Quite simply, there isn't a perfect solution to the problem. If I had all the answers, I would be more than willing to share them with the industry while collecting a handsome reward. :)

In the coming articles, we will take a deep dive into the unique mix of traits, behaviors, and skills successful mission-critical operators should possess. As you probably guessed from the theme of this article, **SPOILER WARNING** none of them are technical...

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read this article. My hope is it provokes thought and consideration into the impact of your own training strategies. Please feel free to engage with your insights or feedback until the next installment of the series.

Sources:

[1] Understanding and Solving the IT Skills Gap

[2]Graduate Employability and Communication Competence: Are Undergraduates Taught Relevant Skills?