How professionals can develop their latest data center skills

When there are a plethora of industry certifications to choose from, it can be difficult for professionals to choose the right skills for them. Trends in the data center industry can provide industry professionals with insight into the skills they need to learn and develop.

Between certifications, training, and degrees, professionals have many options for improving and developing their data center skills. And with the different options available, one may wonder where to start or what type of career progression will be available.

In a competitive job market, it is important to develop a combination of technical and soft IT skills. Fortunately, with a wide variety of education and training available, it is possible for professionals to pursue professional development in different ways.

An easy option is to get a professional degree in a field such as information systems management. In systems management programs, professionals need to attend college to take courses such as information systems fundamentals, IT ethics, systems analysis, project management, and data center and infrastructure concepts. This type of training and education can help professionals gain a holistic view of the infrastructure within an organization. Ultimately, it can provide a good foundation for their career.

To achieve long-term success, data center industry players are looking for candidates who can augment traditional education methods with some form of real-world experience. This means learning expertise in certain software, seeking out internships, and staying up to date on the latest technological advancements.

Industry certifications can also help professionals gain specialized data center skills without having to take a college course.

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Adapting to industry needs

IT professionals face several challenges today in the field of data center management. Following industry trends is an easy way to maintain your knowledge base.

First, the role of cloud computing in data center infrastructure is changing. As more organizations deal with carrier-intensive networks and colocation facilities, their staff may need training to help them manage these environments.

Furthermore, data center skills and management are more than just hardware and software maintenance. The advent of agile workflows requires more data center managers to be familiar with operations and purchased software, understand how to host different business workloads, and the different ways infrastructure changes affect operations, rather than just focusing on planning and maintaining data center facilities.

Organizations are also looking to integrate AI-based capabilities and even IoT-like dashboards into predictive maintenance, so these skills could come in handy.

Improve IT skills

In terms of data centers, professionals need to acquire specific data center skills to establish themselves as data center experts. Their core responsibilities include:

• Monitoring: Select and install monitoring software for applications and hardware.
• Integration: Ensure all systems and services work together throughout the deployment and integration process.
• Troubleshooting: Implement proactive procedures for incident management and root cause analysis.
• Collaboration: Talk with end users to establish operating procedures and usage guidelines.

Professionals can continue to expand their skills by obtaining some level of certification in these areas and becoming familiar with the various technologies in the data center.

Even though professionals don't need to know every possible data center product, they must have some familiarity with Windows and Linux operating systems and scripting tools like PowerShell.

Going to the cloud

Cloud computing is a growing part of data center management, especially as organizations begin to consider hosting their operations and shutting down their on-premises data centers. In addition to becoming familiar with cloud computing architecture, learning the terminology of service licensing agreements can help professionals understand the terms of data ownership and contract costs.

Overall, effective cloud management involves coordinating multiple environments, especially as organizations increasingly deploy cloud setups in various forms, from public to hybrid. In addition to the specific type of cloud platform, evaluating bandwidth types and security features is critical to purchasing and managing the right configuration for your business.

Many professionals want to become industry experts and need more real-world data center skills that enable them to assess situations and secure service contracts and operate hardware and software with ease. Through continuous learning, they can ensure their business capabilities and keep their skills ahead of the technology curve.