The number of Americans working in data centers nearly doubled between 2016 and 2023. As more and more data centers are being built, especially in rural areas, leaders in the space are sounding the alarm about a labor shortage, despite some reports that there are few lasting jobs after construction is complete.
The Big Idea: Last week, Ford CEO Jim Farley told Axios that data centers need more workers in manufacturing and the skilled trades to operate the facilities or else companies’ AI ambitions will fall flat. Other industry leaders are echoing that sentiment. Workforce and education institutions are responding by creating short-term training programs customized for specific data centers and by generally educating communities about the centers.
But in order to fill those needed jobs, companies must confront a unique challenge: In many communities, data centers are characterized more by what they take from their neighbors—namely water and electricity—than what they give. Moreover, many locals who work in the trades or agriculture don’t see themselves as tech workers in the traditional sense, and often don’t realize what opportunities are available to them.
In Texas, the Education Design Lab, supported by the Charles Koch Foundation, created the Texas Flywheel Initiative, working with industry leaders, educational institutions, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The idea is to create a sustainable talent pipeline for data centers and cryptocurrency mines. The initiative coincides with the buildout of the $500B Stargate program to bolster AI. The project’s first data center recently opened in Abilene, Texas.
Leah Ben-Ami, senior ecosystem designer at EDL, says it’s crucial for companies to do more than just hire. They have to get to know the local communities they’re building in and develop a whole ecosystem that includes training and upskilling opportunities.
“We want to make sure that we can retain the employees,” Ben-Ami says. “We’re trying to give them tangible skills that they can really showcase. This is where innovation is going to come and where it will take a community to figure out.”
The New Tech Workers
This year, Texas State Technical College launched a short-term data center technician course in the Dallas area, where many data centers are concentrated. The 6- to 12-week program is responsive to different employers’ needs and can be customized to increase the number of hours or courses, or to focus on different skills, like HVAC or electrical.
Cindy Evans, executive director of workforce training and continuing education at TSTC, says she has calls almost every day with data centers around the state looking to recruit and upskill talent. It’s an example of the kind of close partnership between industry and higher education that Ben-Ami says is crucial to building a sustainable workforce ecosystem.
The current TSTC cohort has only 12 students, and they come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are military veterans and others are looking for a career change, including one transitioning from retail. The program is noncredit, and no prerequisites or experience in technology are required. The college encourages students to come back and pursue two-year degree programs for further upskilling, but the short program is enough to get them into entry-level jobs that pay anywhere from $17-$40 an hour, according to Evans. In most data centers, there are opportunities to advance as well.
TSTC is also in conversation with data centers to reskill or upskill their entire operation, Evans says.
“We’re always trying to think ahead,” she says. “Now that we have data centers, what do they need when they’re fully engaged? That’s going to be water and power, so what does that look like? What does renewable energy look like? How do we sustain that type of training to keep the data centers up and running?”
Connecting the Dots: Job training providers are also jumping into the mix to reskill people who may not have considered themselves tech workers before. A partnership between IT education provider Per Scholas and the staffing company TEKsystems is offering a free data center operations program that includes OSHA training and industry certifications, as well as lessons in IT hardware management and power and cooling systems.
The conversation began about four years ago when a hyperscale data center approached TEKsystems saying they needed to hire thousands of people, but it seemed those workers didn’t exist.
“There are enough jobs. There are not enough people,” says John Lullen, managing executive of marketplace inclusion at TEKsystems. “Or rather, people don’t know what jobs exist.”
In creating a curriculum, TEKsystems and Per Scholas needed to talk with employers, but also the people who could benefit from the course. One of the biggest challenges is helping people to see themselves working in the tech industry, even if they don’t come from a tech background.
One of the graduates of the program is Zakir Hussaini, a former translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Hussaini was always interested in technology, but never pursued a career in the field because he felt like he couldn’t keep up with the rapid pace of change, especially while living in Afghanistan.
When Hussaini came to the United States in 2014, he worked in a call center and then earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He also earned a commercial driver’s license and started his own trucking business before finding out about the Per Scholas training. Today, Hussaini works for TEKsystems as a lead data center technician for Microsoft and hopes to work up to higher-level management positions.
Jasmine Smiley, senior release and change manager for data center operations at Microsoft, said in a webinar with TEKsystems and Per Scholas earlier this year that connecting with people who may not know what a data center is or realize they have relevant skills is vital for staffing needs.
“Oftentimes folks think of Microsoft and they think they have to be an engineer or have to have a longstanding education background in IT,” she said. “Folks don’t realize that although they might be a plumber by trade and have been doing this for the past 15 years, we also need plumbers in data centers to make them run. To have our liquid cooling, we need HVAC.”
Engaging the Community
Another challenge companies face, especially in rural communities where more data centers are cropping up, is the local perception of the data centers themselves. News about resource hoarding, water shortages, and noise may deter communities from accepting data centers and the jobs that may come with them.
Chris Abrams, director of the information technology sector at JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development corporation, coaches mayors and other local officials about how to talk to their communities about the value of data centers. Ohio has a large concentration of data centers thanks to a state tax exemption, but Abrams says the companies often will invest significantly in local schools. In rural areas, a large data center also creates other jobs in hospitality and construction, and in some cases, they will buy farmland far above the market value.
“When you look at a data center and see that there’s 50 jobs directly in that building, there’s probably another 150 that are created indirectly,” Abrams says. “And the direct jobs are high-paying. They are absolutely technical, but they don’t always require a college degree.”
As part of the Texas Flywheel Initiative, some companies are also holding regular community meetings and even tours of data centers for people to learn about what they do and what kinds of jobs are available.
The energy company Cholla, Inc has partnered with EDL to help “pull the curtain back” on Bitcoin mining and data centers, says Brad Cuddy, director of energy operations. Bitcoin mines typically have lower security clearances than other data centers, making it easier for prospective employees to look around the facility and ask questions.
“We’re not trying to scale to be the biggest data center or the biggest Bitcoin miner,” Cuddy says. “What we’re really trying to do is elevate the conversation and say, ‘This is Bitcoin mining, and here are the applicable skills to become a data center technician at a Bitcoin mine. This is how it would translate to a data center position at a more high-security, hyperscale data center.’”
This approach grew out of conversations EDL had with local communities that complained about companies coming in and building facilities without consulting them or explaining what they were doing. Those same community members often talked about wanting better opportunities close to home for their adult children who were doing gig work or struggling to find jobs. Nobody had made the connection for them, and even local workforce boards were often ignorant of the opportunities that existed.
“Our concern is making sure that the pipeline of talent is there and helping communities understand that these jobs are for them,” Ben-Ami says.