r/datacenter • u/ccarver95 • 8d ago

Advice and input

Hey everyone, I could use some good advice. I'm a commercial HVAC tech in the Virginia Beach VA area almost for 4 years with a bachelor's in Applied Management. A few months back I received an offer for a commissioning position for Daikin at a data center up in Manassas. I ended up turning it down because I'd be away for 2 weeks and back home for 2 weeks. I had a recent conversation with someone who was a project manager for a data center I believe for Microsoft and he mentioned a schedule from Monday-thursday which would be more doable. I can for sure see myself working at datacenters, to me it sounds fun and something I'd like to go after. My goal is to eventually grow in to a construction coordinator role to a management role.

Questions that I have:

Are there data centers around the Richmond area or slightly into north Carolina that anyone knows of? I've googled it and it says yes, but I just haven't seen any actual positions.

Is that Monday-thursday schedule really a thing for roles I'd probably qualify for

What kind of roles should I consider, I've thought of tech roles.

What are the benefits like

What companies to consider and where to apply

What is career progression like. Should a HVAC tech wanting to do construction management for data centers a good idea or should I consider another route of progression and what would those be?

Any pros and cons or what's y'all's favorite and least favorite things about datacenter work?

Issues I have

The whole 2 week on and 2 week off situation. We don't have kids, but eventually want kids and I don't want to be in a position where I'm away for that long. Unless I could bring them with me during the time. But even that sounds difficult too with kids.

In advance, I appreciate the time everyone will take to read this and respond.

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u/ProbsOnTheToilet 8d ago

Microsoft has a huge site in Boydton Va that is always hiring. That's on the Virginia NC border.

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u/ccarver95 8d ago

Do you happen to know more about the schedule or what that actually looks like? Sometimes especially with data center jobs it's not accurately displayed on job postings. For example it will say located in Virginia Beach but it's 100% travel type situation

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u/ProbsOnTheToilet 8d ago

You wont find any data center jobs in Hampton roads... as for the boydton site its probably 12hr shifts days and nights with a 4 3 3 4 rotation on site.