| Symantec recently released a study in which half of the nearly 1,800 global respondents reported that their data centers are either ‘somewhat’ or ‘extremely’ understaffed. Downsizing is a factor but that’s only a piece of the puzzle. Three-quarters of the respondents say they have the same amount or more of open job requisitions compared to a year ago.
Another 47% say that budget constraints are feeding into their data center staffing problems. Here are a couple of other interesting statistics from the report:
-39% characterize the challenge of finding qualified data center staff as either a ‘big’ or a ‘huge’ problem.
-Only 23% see the retirement of data center staffers as a ‘big’ or ‘huge’ problem.
From what I can extrapolate from this report and in-the-trenches discussions with CIOs, IT managers and staffers, there are multiple factors at play here.
One of the most glaring problems is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find younger IT workers who are interested in data center jobs. These jobs aren't interesting enough or challenging enough, according to recent grads and hiring managers I’ve spoken to on the topic. Most ‘millenials’ don’t want to be pinned down to doing the same task or set of tasks for an extended period of time. They envision themselves as digital nomads. They like to move from job to job, from organization to organization. They’re not worried about amassing a 401(K) with the same company or building up vacation time. That was their parents’ gig.
This creates big headaches for Baby Boomer IT managers who struggle to keep this lot satisfied and grounded for any period of time. Bosses still have to keep the lights on and the servers humming.
But that’s just part of the picture. Continued budget pressures are forcing CIOs to drive out additional infrastructure costs. While much of this centers around servers and storage virtualization projects, many data centers are operating with bare-bones staffs either as a result of downsizing or hiring freezes where data center operators who leave on their own terms simply aren’t replaced and the additional work gets distributed to the remaining personnel.
Meanwhile, Computer Economics’ 2010 IT Salary Report finds that ‘operations group’ staffers can expect to see 2 percent pay raises this year. That slightly above the 1.8% norm for the typical IT worker but it's still pretty paltry.
Even when the economy lifts, CIOs will continue to be pushed to hold down infrastructure costs and to run IT operations as efficiently as possible. These pressures will continue to feed into the growing use of cloud-based infrastructure services. But in the meantime, the state of the data center remains very much unsettled.
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