Can you imagine being stuck in your home for over twelve months without the internet working during the Pandemic? It should be no surprise to see the massive influx of demand of the data center industry. To say the Pandemic of 2020 changed the world is an understatement. The Silver Lining is that for the most part, the Global economy had the digital infrastructure in place to scale to the explosive demands of online activity for both consumers and businesses. A large portion of the world’s workforce became remote almost overnight as well as a massive student population Kindergarten through college. This doesn’t even include the massive shift to how people shop and entertain themselves.
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Zoom Meetings Have Sky Rocketed
Consider some of these statistics. Zoom usage exploded from 10 million daily meetings in December 2019 to 300 million for the month of May 2020. U.S. video game usage increased 75 percent during peak hours according to data from Verizon. Comcast’s internet services surged 32% and as high as 60% in Seattle. AT&T says demand for the company’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) skyrocketed 700%.
None of this demand is met without the ability to scale up the digital infrastructure in real time. According to Buddy Rizer, the Executive Director of Economic Development for Loudoun County, Virginia. “We’ve had 26 fast-track (data center construction) projects since March (2020). Normally, we’ll have 15 in an entire year, so that’s more than twice as many projects than ever before. “We’re looking at over 6 million square feet of new data center space,” Rizer said.
Data Center Power Usage
- More than 373 megawatts of new wholesale data center construction is underway across major markets in the United States, according to a newly-published 2021 market outlook from CBRE. The real estate firm forecasts that total data center inventory will grow by 13.8% in 2021.
- Others see even higher forecasts. Cushman & Wakefield and datacenterHawk estimate Northern Virginia construction projects at 322 megawatts, while the Silicon Valley, Chicago and Atlanta markets all have more than 100 megawatts of active construction projects for 2021.
There have been incredible challenges to ramping up, including a major disruption to the construction supply chain caused by the pandemic and an aging workforce in the construction industry with a limited supply of workforce interested in the trades. Thankfully, American know-how and the advantages of a technically affluent construction industry has saved the day…For now.
The unspoken word or question rather is, “Where will the new data center construction work force come from?” Current supply is dwarfed by an ever-increasing demand. Companies will need to get creative as they figure out how to address this issue.
Filling The Data Center Jobs
- Companies like Pkaza play a big part in filling the void of a shortage in the data center construction hiring market. We bring 14 years of recruiting/staffing expertise exclusively to the data center market and with it, a database with 1000’s of qualified candidates for our clients. As Covid 19 has thrown a real curve ball to the industry we have shifted to meet the changing demands. For instance, because construction work is very project oriented, many companies may have a short-term hiring need for a construction build project. Pkaza can deliver staff augmentation (contract / temp) hiring solutions based on the length of a project allowing companies to stay within budget. And of course we still are focused on perm placement as well!
With a greater emphasis today placed on diversity in the workplace, our tenure in the industry allows us to find a wide range of experienced candidate profiles to meet any hiring requirements.
Data Center Job Roles
This is a list of data center construction job roles / positions that Pkaza recruits for regularly throughout the United States and Canada.
- MEP Superintendents (MEP Supers) and General Superintendents
- Construction Directors / Project Executives
- Construction Project Managers
- Project Engineers
- QA / QC Construction Managers
- Electrical and Mechanical Commissioning Agents and CxA Project Managers
Whether you are an experienced construction veteran or an up-and-coming professional looking to take your career to the next level we would love to speak with you.
We work with many of the best General Construction firms, Owner’s Rep companies and Data Center owner companies that are looking to hire experienced construction professionals.
Give us a call today 973-895-5200 to find out more or visit our website at https://www.pkaza.com
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