What does a…If you look at our job landscape, you will see special positions roll by. A Field Service Engineer, Lab Technician, or Assembly Worker – we seem to desperately need one, but for what and why? In this series, every week someone talks about his profession. Today: Danny Kosman (45) is a data center manager at the BIT data center in Ede.
What exactly does a data center administrator do?
,,In our rooms there are servers from different clients. From online stores, websites, large organizations to cloud services. Together with my colleagues, I make sure that those areas remain well conditioned, the humidity must be at the right level, the room must be refreshed. We do the latter with outside air, unless it’s hotter than 24 degrees outside. We also provide backup and emergency power in the event of a power outage.
If a server fails, it costs the company a lot of money. For example, consumers will no longer be able to shop, they will no longer be able to withdraw money from a gas station, or an insurer will no longer be able to access data when customers call with a question. That’s why companies choose to place their server in a data center. We do everything we can to keep their servers from going down.”
What is an average working day like for you?
“One day I travel around the data center a lot to check all the servers and carry out maintenance where necessary. Or we start installing new servers or expand a server. This often requires installing additional power cords or a new internet connection.
If we get a report of a possible malfunction, we’ll look into it as soon as possible. During office hours, we leave everything under control to quickly resolve the issue for the customer. Outside working hours we are on site within the hour and get to work straight away”.
Does anything ever go wrong?
,,Hardly ever. But of course there are many computers, so the chance of a short is much higher. We had an outage once when a server’s power supply went dead. To prevent a major fire from breaking out, we extinguish immediately, even before smoke develops. We can do this because there are special highly sensitive smoke detectors with multiple sensors in the data center. When the “extinguishing” goes off, a mixture of argon and nitrogen is sprayed into the space, so the fire doesn’t stand a chance.
The building is also highly secured to prevent the wrong people from gaining access to the equipment. That’s why there is a fence around the site with electricity. Furthermore, all rooms are equipped with burglar-proof and fire-resistant security doors. And you can enter the building with a pass, but you can only enter the rooms with servers via an iris scan. If you lose your pass, no one else can just enter that room with it.
What do you like most about your job?
“Working with technology. Before that I worked in refrigeration technology but this involves a lot more techniques. I’m a real tech freak, so I find anything to do with technology interesting. Not only do you need to know how cooling works, but also how to change a hard drive, for example. Plus, it’s a big responsibility to keep everything running. This also makes the work interesting.
Before that I worked in refrigeration technology but this involves a lot more techniques
Are there things you like least?
“It is sometimes busy, especially when many reports arrive at the same time. But then all team members are immediately ready to help. Colleagues in the administration also ask if there is anything they can do. In fact, half the company is ready to help. Even at night. There are many colleagues who don’t have to get out of bed, but they do.
Of course there are also days when it is quiet. But it’s never boring. There are always chores that have been left behind that you can pick up on. All technology must be maintained or renewed. For example, we will soon be installing a new cooling system.”
Do you want to continue doing this until you retire?
“I like it so much that I can see myself doing this job until I retire, yes. As for me, I don’t have to grow up yet, this position suits me perfectly. I learn new techniques every time, this world never stops. Also, it’s not just about executing plans, I can also think along with where we stand with the company, what’s coming to market, and how we’re going to use these techniques.”
Working in a data center
Would you like to work in a data center just like Danny? There are several open vacancies in data centers in the Netherlands. For example, you may work as an operations engineer, electrical engineer, or floor manager. You can find it on the National Vacancy Bank relevant vacancies in your region.
But maybe you’d like to be Danny’s partner. On career page of BIT you will find all current job offers.
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