This article is my day in the life of a Data Center Technician at Google. I will explain how long I’ve been at the company, my team and its mission, and what it’s like to travel constantly for work.
My Role’s Details
Here’s some details about my position:
- Date of hire: May 8th, 2023
- Role title and level: Data Center Technician 2 (DT 2)
- Primary work area: North America South America (NASA)
- Team’s name: ML Operations
- Team’s mission: To help deploy the Machine Learning (ML) machines powering the (Artificial Intelligence) AI software used in various products for Google’s internal and external customers
My Day In The Life Of A Data Center Technician At Google
Even though my role title is a Data Center Technician (DT), and most DTs work at one site, I do not. During my hiring process I got the opportunity to interview for a traveling position. I’ve traveled for business before and loved it, so I accepted to interview for the role. Now, I travel to different Google data centers constantly. I do have a home site (or a home base) that I work at when I’m not traveling. However, that’s rare nowadays.
So what’s a day in the life of a Data Center Technician at Google that travels frequently?
Morning
I’m a morning person now so I usually get up at 630 AM and start my day. Sometimes my body will wake me up earlier than that.
If I remember to turn on the TV in my hotel room, I’ll watch the local news to check the weather and the traffic while I get ready.
Then it’s time to commute to work. It’s different depending if I’ve traveling domestic or international. With domestic travel I drive a rental car, but with international travel I may take the company’s shuttle, catch a ride with another coworker, order an Uber, or walk to the data center.
Upon arriving at the data center I go through the first of many security checkpoints. Google takes security seriously so I must show my badge to the security guard at the gate before I can badge in to open the gate. After driving (or walking through) that gate, I have to badge into the building to gain entrance.
From there I go to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. Yes, this wouldn’t be a true day in the life without talking about the free food at Google! The company serves breakfast and lunch at all offices. However, there are a select number that get a dinner service. Now this is only during the week. During the weekend we have access to prepared meals in to-go boxes in the refrigerators in cafeteria or in the Micro-Kitchens (MKs).
Time For Work, I Mean Meetings
After breakfast I find a visitor’s desk and setup my laptop. I spend a little bit of time checking my email and chat messages for anything important or critical. After that I fill out my timesheet, check my expenses in Concur, and get ready to join my first meeting of the day.
The first meeting is either my team’s morning standup, or the data center’s morning standup. It depends on the site I’m at if the former or latter meeting is first. If I’m traveling internationally my team’s meeting is in the afternoon.
After those meetings I may have more meetings. Yeah, it’s like that sometimes. That’s just the byproduct of my team’s mission. Sometimes we have to explain why the deployment isn’t going well, or is going well, or discuss a problem we found, or learn about a new machine coming out soon.
Day In The Life Of A Data Center Technician At Google: Now It’s Time For Work
With the meetings done it’s time for me to go onto the data center floor and work.
Before I can get onto the floor I have to go through another security checkpoint and a mantrap. The security guard checks my laptop to make sure it’s a Google-deployed version (we can’t bring non-Google-deployed laptops onto the floor). Then the guard checks the outward appearance of my phone and my headphones. After that I empty my pockets of all metal objects and go through a metal detector. Finally, I gather my things and go through the mantrap. Inside there I scan my eyes and go onto the floor.
Once I’m on the floor, I go into the room to get my cart and my tools. After that I open my laptop, open the ticket system, and start working tickets.
My role is to determine why the ML machines didn’t install properly. There could be a hardware issue, like a bad hard drive or defective memory. Or there could be a bad network cable. Finally, there could be a software issue affecting a large number of machines so I’ll have to submit a bug for the Software Engineers to fix.
In addition to those tasks, I do work on resolving issues in the racks powering the machines. I also troubleshoot issue with the network devices sending the data. I do spend quite a bit of time cleaning fiber, replacing defective fiber optic transceivers, things like that.
Lunchtime!
I usually take lunch at either 1130am or Noon. I leave the data center floor, go through the security screening again, and go to the cafeteria to eat.
The food at Google is good to great most of the time. Yeah, there are days where the main meal sucks in my opinion, but I have the option to make a salad or a sandwich. It’s still free food, though, so I can’t complain too much.
I take a 30 minute lunch because I don’t see the need to take a full hour. Plus, I may have a meeting in the early afternoon so taking a full hour isn’t doable sometimes.
Day In The Life Of A Data Center Technician At Google: Back To Work
After lunch I go back onto the data center floor and continue working tickets. Sometimes I’ll take a meeting while working on the floor, or I’ll leave again and use a conference room.
I just keep working until it’s about an hour before I’ll leave for the day. I’ll leave the floor and work on administrative tasks like write or update documentation, answer emails, send emails, check on bugs, things like that. I try to keep on top of my administrative tasks daily because if I don’t that work will pile up.
Time To Leave
My day in the life of a Data Center Technician at Google comes to an end usually 4 PM or 4:30 PM. I’ll go eat dinner on the company’s dime using my corporate card, and then go back to the hotel to learn Java programming, read a novel, watch YouTube, and relax before bedtime.
I do my best to go to bed usually 10 PM or 10:30 PM at the latest. It’s crucial for me to get enough sleep so I can stay healthy because constant travel is hard on my body.
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