r/datacenter

I recently got an offer for WLBP starting at $23.84 anybody have any info on this position and what they do I wanna be a dco tech but this all they had to offer me

Hey all, just received an AWS DCO L3 offer. The offer includes hourly pay, benefits, 401k match in Amazon stock, and a $3k relocation. No signing bonus or RSUs included. Is it normal to negotiate or ask for a signing bonus at this level? Has anyone had success adding one after receiving their initial offer?

Thanks!

Hey guys,

So I was officially offered an L4 DCT at AWS. I am moving two hours away from my current location and have an arrangement already for housing with my parents. I was notified that I have to be stationed roughly 6 hours away at another data center for a 3 month training.

I have a feeling the relocation package is for me moving to the actual data center I will be working at after the training. I have not spoken to the manager or recruiter yet but does anyone know if they offer temporary housing or stipend while I’m 6 hours away for 3 months just for training? I would hate to use up my relocation package on an Airbnb while I’m away for those 3 months. I was told via email a relocation agency will be in contact with me but it says it’s mostly for the relocation payment and self guided resources.

Any advice? Starting as facilities tech (L3) at a new build. Thanks in advance

Hi guys. I’m looking to apply for a Critical Facilities Technician / Engineer job, and wanted to pick your brains about what the reality of the job is like, as I’ve never worked in a data center.

Right now, I’m looking at Google, Meta, Vantage, and Aligned. I'm not limited to those companies, I just don’t know anything about the others (very open to suggestions).

I'd love to get your honest take on a few things:

-What data center do you work for and how’s the work life balance?

-How’s the pay and benefits?

-What’s the day-to-day look like for a CFE/CFT?

-Advancement/Training: Is there a clear path for internal promotions and leveling up technically? How’s the training process (getting qualified)?

Would love to hear what you guys have to say about your jobs/companies and I really appreciate the responses!

I only ever hear about the anti DC side, id like to hear the counter and prolonged DC arguments. Any good resource for this?

Got a verbal offer call from Microsoft for a Data Center Technician role in after 2 rounds of interviews. Recruiter said a formal portal offer should come in 2–3 days, then HR approval + background checks. It’s now Friday and I still haven’t received anything yet.

For people who’ve been through Microsoft hiring especially DCT/CO+I — is this normal? Do portal offers sometimes take longer than expected after verbal confirmation?

Trying not to overthink it but naturally a bit anxious 😅 Appreciate any insight.

Ok, so I’m about a week into a new data center tech role and could use some perspective.

My boss and I worked through 3 DIMM tickets together. On two of them, we got as far as replacing the DIMM and running stress tests, and on one I was the one who actually ordered the replacement part. None of those tickets got formally closed out before my boss went on vacation.

For the last 3 days, I’ve just been shadowing someone else since my boss is out, and Monday is Memorial Day, so there’s kind of this weird gap.

Here’s where I’m at: I now feel confident enough to handle DIMM tickets on my own. I already took initiative on the one officially assigned to me in the system, finished the stress test, updated comments, and closed it.

Now I’ve got 2 others not technically assigned to me but where through slack DM from boss(there assigned to him):
- One seems straightforward — I know exactly what needs to be done (finish stress test, document, close).
- The other is trickier because it’s not officially assigned to me, but I was involved in ordering the part with my boss, got the notification that it arrived, and I’m pretty sure I could handle the swap + validation. Problem is I don’t have locker access yet, so logistics basically hit me with “this person doesn’t exist” 💀

Part of me feels like this is some kind of unspoken test to see if I take initiative. The other part thinks it’s probably just stuff slipping through the cracks because of vacation timing.

My instinct is to be proactive, but I also don’t want to overstep as the new guy by touching tickets that aren’t technically assigned to me.

For those of you in data center / IT ops environments: what would you do? Take ownership and move it forward, or wait for explicit direction?

I am looking to start a business supporting the data center industry, mostly hardware and eventually grow into servicing .

As a individual just starting out with no knowledge of the industry and 50-100k capital to invest , I am looking for some guidance and suggestion on where to start and what products are easy to source and sell .

Also looking for some ideas from someone who are in this business and how would you go about finding the first customer etc .

Thanks in advance for your help and support !

There’s a NIMBY mind virus and it’s getting to me. Groupthink without qualification. I am in the industry and fear being too vocal for fear of social ostracism. Already experienced some pushback when I was in energy.

Can you relate? What to do? I don’t want to do free PR off the clock and some can’t be reasoned with.

Hey everyone,

My family owns a large piece of vacant desert land in the Southwest (100+ acres), and I’ve been trying to learn how people actually determine whether land has legitimate data center potential or if it’s just speculation.
We’re very early in the process and not assuming the property is worth anything special. Just trying to learn before wasting time or money.
A few things the land might have going for it:
flat/open acreage
lower density area
power infrastructure appears to be nearby

Main questions:
What are the true make-or-break factors?
How important is distance to substations/transmission?
How critical is nearby fiber?
Who should someone talk to first — utilities, civil engineers, brokers, site selection consultants?
What early due diligence is usually done before spending serious money?
Are developers still looking at secondary markets or mainly sticking to established hubs now?
Would really appreciate honest feedback from anyone in development, utilities, engineering, brokerage, etc.
Thanks.

Hello today was my first day doing tickets on my own at AWS and I only managed to get 4 resolves today but I see my other tenured L3 co workers getting 8-10 a day. I was wondering is this normal for first timers? I seem to get stuck during the technical portion post repair where the boot takes longer for me than my other coworkers. I would love to know what you guys do for your batches so it’s something I can implicate. I would ask my co workers but they’re gatekeeping some information from me for some reason and I really want to improve

Hey just wanted to see if anyone recently had any recent AWS interviews for either DCO, Install, or Deploy at any level and how it went and if they got offer letters.

Everyone's piling into the same three names. Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are set to spend roughly $400B on data centers in 2026, and the market treats AI compute as the only story worth owning. But there's a quieter setup underneath all that capex that I think is being badly mispriced.

Here's the thing most people miss: even with the AI frenzy, only about 38% of data center demand in 2026 is actually AI workloads. The rest is boring, sticky, recurring enterprise demand. Companies that need colocation for ERP systems, compliance data, disaster recovery, regional latency. That demand never went away. What changed is that hyperscale capital is now crowding it out. Primary markets (Northern Virginia, Dallas, Silicon Valley) are sitting below 2% vacancy, some Tier 1 markets are sub-1%, and pre-commitment on new builds is running near 89%. Translation: if you're an enterprise that just needs a few MW, you can't get space, and you're now securing capacity 18 to 24 months in advance.

That's the supply/demand dislocation. The release valve is Tier 2 / secondary markets. Columbus, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Indianapolis and Reno are pulling the most deal activity right now. Why? They have the one thing that's actually scarce: available power. Plus lower cost per MW to build, state-level incentives, and far less community opposition than the saturated primary hubs. Power availability has quietly overtaken connectivity as the #1 site-selection criteria, and that structurally favors the operators positioned in these overlooked geographies.

The bull case, simply: the headline AI trade is crowded and priced for perfection, but the picks-and-shovels layer serving displaced enterprise demand in Tier 2 markets is operating at near-zero vacancy with multi-year pre-leasing and pricing power, and it trades at a fraction of the attention. Regional colocation operators, the REITs with secondary-market land and power, and the power/cooling infrastructure feeding these builds all benefit whether or not the AI capex cycle stays this hot, because the underlying enterprise demand is non-discretionary.

I'm not saying short the hyperscalers. I'm saying the risk/reward of buying the 50th person's idea is worse than the risk/reward of the thing nobody's talking about. Curious where this community lands: is Tier 2 enterprise capacity a real overlooked edge here, or is the power-constraint story already baked into the names that matter? What are you actaully watching?

Not financial advice, just where my head's at. Do your own DD.

Here’s my take. If a community bans data center creation, then that community should not have access to use that technology.

Data center creators should do what the porn industry is doing and place firewalls that state: Your (city, county, state) legislators are barring us from operating in your area. Since your area doesn’t need data center support, we will eliminate access. If this is incorrect, please contact your legislators and we will work with our hyperscalers to bring support as soon as possible….you’ve been placed at the end of the queue.