EXPERT OPINION
Ending the skills shortage : Is it time for a data centre hiring boom ?
As the skills shortage looms over the sector , could recent mass layoffs provide a way to boost the data centre industry ’ s headcount , foster diversity and lower the average industry age ?
Sam Prudhomme , President , Accelevation LLc , explores this in more detail as an imminent solution to the problem . or over a decade , the data centre industry has struggled
F with the simple fact that there just aren ’ t enough skilled workers to fill a growing number of jobs .
Today , operators already struggle to fill existing roles and the demand for data centre infrastructure is only growing . In the US especially , the Uptime Institute ’ s global industry survey for 2022 reported that ‘ much of the existing workforce is aging and many professionals expect to retire around the same time ’. If the data centre industry doesn ’ t successfully attract new talent before the previous generation ages out , there ’ s no telling how much valuable experience and expertise will fall through the generation gap , never to be reclaimed .
Of course , if enticing new hires to the data centre industry was simple , the industry wouldn ’ t be in this predicament . If the methods used up until this point have failed to solve the problem , maybe it ’ s time for a change of tactics , especially since 2023 might just represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the industry to close the skills gap .
The Tier II / III market shift
As the amount of data created , processed and consumed around the globe doubles every few years , the demand for digital infrastructure grows with it . In the US , McKinsey predicts that , by 2030 , demand for data centre capacity will reach 35 gigawatts ( GW ), up from 17 GW in 2022 .
A great deal of that demand for new capacity is likely to be found outside the highly saturated Tier I markets ( like
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