Abstract:

With the expansion of the data center industry over the last decade, it has become increasingly challenging to find qualified, diverse data center operations staff outside of military technical programs and the construction trades. This project aims at determining the feasibility of data center industry outreach programs for two-year educational institutions in the state of Texas, with the idea that filling open data center operations positions with community college and technical school graduates can help to solve some of the data center industry’s staffing challenges. Using a mixed-method, this project analyzes market data at the national and state level to understand data center industry growth projections, evaluates education programs and student demographics at five community colleges in Texas through the lens of data center operations, and obtains opinions regarding data center/community college relationships from experts in the community college workforce programs field.

Results show significant potential advantages for the data center industry in partnering with two-year education institutions in their localities. Hiring college graduates provide advantages to the company over mid-career transfers, data center companies becoming more involved in the community college placement and recruiting scene will likely provide long-term benefits to the industry with respect to candidate sourcing.

Keywords:

Industry outreach program, two-year institution, staff shortage, staff diversity.