With the recent economic downturn, high unemployment numbers have repeatedly made headlines. Nevertheless, unfilled data centre design engineering positions remain numerous. A number of factors contribute to this dearth of engineers, including experience requirements, the stressfulness of the job, and the financial consequences for a company if a data centre design project is not completed correctly. Data centre design involves a diverse mix of skills. Data centres themselves are not just buildings with standard mechanical, electrical, and plumbing facilities—much of this equipment is far more sophisticated than that of an average construction project. Specialized cooling systems are needed to maintain proper temperatures in the presence of computer equipment that produces large amounts of waste heat. Proper electrical facilities are needed to power not only the computers, but also the cooling equipment and other portions of the data centre. Security measures, including those to protect against physical intruders as well as intruders in cyberspace, are also an integral part of data centre design.

In light of these and other requirements for designing a data centre, it is no wonder that the pool of potential applicants for mechanical and electrical engineering positions in data centre design starts off being quite limited.

Source: Data Center Journal

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