SUDLOWS
TACKLING THE SKILLS SHORTAGE
Rising above other industry pain points like COVID-19 , rising materials and construction costs , and the looming spectre of the climate crisis , John Rippingale sees the industry skills shortage as the biggest challenge facing the data centre industry today . “ One of the biggest struggles in the market right now is obviously the skills shortage when it comes to getting people into the MEP space , not just into data centres ,” he notes . “ Lots of people are going into IT , cybersecurity , fintech - all the more ' glamourous ' sectors - but behind all of those industries is a data centre . There ' s increasing demand , but we need people who understand how to do hands-on engineering .” The exponentially rising demand for capacity in markets like India , he adds , is only exacerbating the issue .
So how are you solving the skills shortage at Sudlows Consulting ? I ' ve always been a big believer in taking on graduates . Even in the early days when I was building up the business in Dubai , employing staff with vast data centre experience was beneficial and required , however , but we also made sure we were hiring people just a few years out of university who didn ' t necessarily have data centre experience , but maybe they ' d worked on a server room or some other MEP work and were eager to make the jump .
People can gain experience . What makes the difference is having the right attitude . That ’ s something you cannot train .
102 December 2021