EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
LEON O ’ NEILL – MEMBERSHIP MANAGER DCA & FOUNDER OF DIGITAL ABODES
e are in a difficult position to provide the
W solution to the widening skills gap . To be clear , that ’ s not through a lack of desire , intent or requirement on the part of the data centre industry . Many data centre staff will probably admit that their career is an accidental one . They will tell you their story of how they entered the industry and how it was not a target career for them . This has been a common conversation for years at any event you may have attended , which begs the question . . . Are we looking in the wrong place at the wrong time for the right candidate ?
ATTRACTING TALENT TO THE INDUSTRY IS PREDOMINANTLY ABOUT TIMING AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF A STUDENT .
Attracting talent to the industry is predominantly about timing and circumstances of a student . If we take the graduate audience as an example , by the time M & E graduates have completed their degree , they have almost always decided on the discipline they want to pursue before being given any exposure to the data centre industry as a career option .
So , where else can we look for candidates ?
Data centre providers would be in a better position to solve the widening skills gap if they and candidates had access to an education programme specifically designed for the data centre industry . Targeted at youth and diversity at an early age through school / college .
This could also target the unemployed , through organisations such as FedCAP that are fully government funded and have access to the unemployed , providing services to help people re-train and get back into work . This is an audience that perhaps does not have access to the opportunities available in the data centre industry due to circumstances and almost always do not know it ’ s a career path they could choose .
The data centre industry needs to ask itself whether it could better help students / candidates understand what it does and whether it should target this new audience of students / candidates with a message that has wider appeal .
After all , household names such as Facebook , TikTok , Instagram , Google and Amazon are data centre operators and can provide real opportunities to develop a career , gain multiple skillsets ( both blue and white collar ) and dramatically improve employees ’ circumstance and standards of living .
While there are training courses available aimed at the corporate market , data centre operators / providers could and absolutely should support an education programme to provide the fundamental skills to put this new audience of students / candidates in a position to develop a career in our industry .
Of course , there needs to be an entity to sit at the centre of a programme of education and guide all the moving parts that would be required for this to happen . The Data Centre Alliance could fit that role . �
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