A search on hosting will yield some results for DCs in your area. They are also fairly easy to pick out when you know what you are looking for, just look for power and cooling capacity that the average business does not need.
The larger the DC the more obvious, just look for the following:
1. The building has no windows, or a small number of windows.
2. The building either has a small parking lot when compared to other buildings of its size in the area or there is only a few cars parked close to it.
3. Multiple generators outside
4. You can usually hear the airflow if you are walking by.
As mentioned they are not terribly fun to work in. The coolness factor wears out pretty fast. They are loud. They are cold, great in the summer, lousy in the winter. Racking 1 server is not so bad, rack 50+ servers in one day and you are going to wake up pretty sore the next day. You tend to learn that the hard way that even the best cable management in the world cannot solve the problem of a lazy sys admin.
It is fun to take people into them for the their first time. I remember the first time I walked into a CO, cables running everywhere, different sounds coming from all directions, lights blinking. It looked so complicated that I was amazed anybody could tame the beast. I asked the engineer giving me the tour if he knew how it all worked, his response was ya.. it works on FM. I asked frequency modulation? His response, "No F*ck*ng Magic!".
This thread is somewhat old, but I have to wake it up. Working in a DC is not really any different than working in any other work environment. Sure you have to do some lifting but after a while you get used to it all. I worked night shift in a DC for a while, my partner and I were required to oversee a a little under 191,000sq ft of DC space between 2 buildings. We also had a 3rd building that went live that was 95,440sq ft. We had another person that would staff the 3rd building.
I enjoyed the sound of the HVAC, I liked running cable, I enjoyed racking equipment. The trick is to make it enjoyable. If you do not like any of the above things in a DC, then perhaps you should think twice about working in a DC. I worked 12 hour shifts and would spend, on average, 6 hours of that shift in the DC space (as opposed to the office).
Now I have a desk job...I do not deal with servers that much but have elected to take up side work so that I can keep in touch with DC work. 7 years of DC work off and on, it still has not gotten old.
To the original poster:
Have you had the opportunity to work in a DC yet?
Goggle in Council Bluffs IA is still looking for people. Also, Yahoo is breaking ground for their Omaha Data Center soon.
By early next year, we will need DC techs for our DR and Data Center Park in Hastings, NE
You must have:
- Config route, firewall, servers system( windows or Linux OS)
- Cabling running, Rack position
- Power, cooling, alarm, CCTV, access control and Monitoring DC system
- Start/Stop some devices about UPS, Air-cool
You only working NOC room by telnet or remote desktop, access Servers/network room when you fix cable or add devices
I can do that
__________________
Minh nguyen minhnip@gmail.com
Data Center Viet Nam Guy
Data center jobs consist of many different job types which fall under information technology, such as: system administration, network administration, IT security, computer operations, help desk support, server administration, pc repair, engineering, and so much more. The benefit of surrounding yourself with knowledgeable individuals is that it enhances your own technical aptitude and empowers your keen technical sense.