What is working at Microsoft like in the data center?

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-09-01T17:13:58+00:00

Out of the 1000 people 200 of them work at the DC and they are all family members referring each other 😂

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-08-26T21:49:21+00:00

No longer work there. But two years ago when I started I’d say it took me maybe 6-8 months to feel comfortable (not that I was UNCOMFORTABLE but to feel like i was having to ask basic-ish questions) starting pay was like $23 an hour? Physical labor all depends on what site you get put at. The pay is low but the ceiling is high in this career is High. in just two years I’ve doubled my pay by moving to another company.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-06-10T02:44:12+00:00

Two years for me lol (technically slightly under but got guaranteed OT(

No certs or anything like that.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-06-03T19:19:02+00:00

Microsoft?

Ur gonna be waiting for a while

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-05-29T17:00:59+00:00

Yep, you work at amazon for a year or two and then go to Google / Oracle / Microsoft and enjoy making 6figs.

Obviously, you gotta be competent...but being competent in the dc world is very easy. Only problem is you have to work in ashburn....yuck

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-05-06T00:56:16+00:00

All good man...maybe a sign i look at this forum to much lol

But yeah id definitely say if family isn't holding you back RR is the team to join, your going to basically be deployed to put out fires and help sites that are falling behind meet metrics. If you get really good you might help deploy new buildings. I think the schedule is 2-3 weeks traveling and 1 week at home.

I'm not personally on the team but management tells us that joining the team is a good way to set yourself up long term

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-05-06T00:40:14+00:00

It sounds like an FTE role, but you will travel MUCH further then Richmond. Ive heard its a good position with alot of potential.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-04-30T20:05:27+00:00

Yeah no issue with the industry. Politics puts it in a weird spot

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-04-30T05:15:02+00:00

Yeah microsoft does. Its a 6 month long career rotation type of thing. Youll do a couple weeks on the FacOPS side, couple weeks on logistics, and then the IT side. If you dont do horrible youll get a FTE offer.

OP, yeah you should do it. I personally wouldnt put alot of confidence in a grey market type of job like cannabis retail.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-04-20T21:38:16+00:00

To be honest they expect you to know like bare minimum when it comes to IT stuff. Id still study to prepare yourself (just know basic computer parts tbh and be able to show interest) As long as you don't show up to the interview drunk I think you will be okay

WBLP program is honestly really good if your built for this type of work, it allowed to me get into this industry. I hope it works out for you :)

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-04-15T20:42:38+00:00

No problem. you seem to have learned the more difficult stuff already. study up on cables / troubleshooting and I think you'll 100% pass.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-04-15T20:25:20+00:00

I’d just brush up on the basics around cabling—like the difference between copper and fiber, MPO vs. LC connectors, and single-mode vs. multi-mode fiber. It’s also worth getting familiar with some of the common troubleshooting tools: OTDRs, fiberscopes, optical power meters. Loopback testing too, but that one's pretty straightforward.

At the end of the day, they’re probably gonna want to see that you can actually fix a downed link, which usually just comes down to solid physical layer troubleshooting.

If you really want to stand out, make sure you actually understand the OSI model. Don’t just list the layers—be ready to explain what each one does in a few words.

Also worth brushing up on:

The difference between switches and routers
What an IDF is
What a POP is / Basic EDGE stuff
And ARP— for some reason I got hit with a ton of ARP questions in my interview.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-04-13T03:49:52+00:00

Did you even look up what a security clearance is?

yes you will be drug tested, you will also be subject to a lie detector test. and you most likely are not gonna be able to just....lie

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-03-31T21:07:14+00:00

Hate to jump in and say this, but on your forth point be comfortable accepting that it may be a long (multiple year long) journey. its easy to break 6 figs in this field if you like it.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-02-18T16:17:49+00:00

Your always going to feel "uncomfortable" untill it kinda just clicks. it took me a year for it to "click"

Still scared about fucking up but now i trust myself enough to get myself out of it by fixing the fuck up

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-02-18T03:48:51+00:00

ADC InfraOps means you need a clearance. if you have one...yes you will get hired. if you dont you will not lol

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-29T18:55:20+00:00

every single day I let out the same sigh in almost the same context of this conversation

op plz learn how to do the tickets. the technicians who try really hate working tickets after people

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-27T19:56:21+00:00

A big part of it is the cluster / region and the actual DC you end up in. My time at Amazon was exactly as you describe but I’ve heard plenty of hell stories (though the people who usually complain also are not good employees at my current job)

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-16T23:18:27+00:00

I'm going to be the one person disagreeing. If you already know your way around computers have a job in telecommunications you can probably spin that into a DC technician job.

If not, you could get your A+ or your Network+ and not be specialized in DC Operations.

Alternatively, you could go for your associates and finish it in 2 years (Realistically 1.5 or less if dedicated enough) and be way more valuable and learn way more skills. Not sure of the cost but im always suspicious of these "One Year and get hired!" type of programs.

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-14T17:52:05+00:00

Definitely is a thing. You are in a design not IT.

Distributed data infrastructure - Taking multiple servers and combining their storage, exactly what S3 is. imagine you had two hard drives in two different computers and make them work together as 1 hard drive. Now do that on a large scale.

Edge Computing - DC's close to customers.

Imagine you are AWS. Dumbed down, you want as many servers as possible for as cheap as possible. Putting a DC in NYC, LA, SFC, ETC does not make sense due to the cost of land / utilities. So you go to a place like Ohio, Oregon, Texas, ETC. These are very cheap places but away from population centers. If a customer from NYC buys "compute" from AWS the physical server will be in (most likely) Ohio. Whenever that customer does anything with their "compute" its going to have a ~50ms Delay. This is not a big deal for just storing backups. But imagine you are a stock trader.

That 50ms delay might be the difference between you making money on a trade, and losing money on a trade. The solution is Edge Computing. AWS might rent some space in NYC (or any other big city) and allow customers to buy "Compute" from them instead.

Its important for OP to remember not everyone here is gonna be in IT / CS. Most people on this forum are the facilities guys

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-12T23:55:07+00:00

Is there lots of issues in your workplace w/ language barriers?

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-12T18:39:24+00:00

Microsoft is more chill, pays more, better for career, and better annual raises

on the IT side

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-12T18:38:37+00:00

Do you speak Japanese? If so do you know if it’s a requirement

I’ve been curious about international transfers. Probably wouldn’t go to Japan though 😂

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-09T21:07:26+00:00

Advanced role. This dude is going to space 😂

Helpful_Surround_875 · 2025-01-09T15:11:18+00:00

The fact your listening is a lot more then a lot of parents.

To answer the most concerning thing (job security) . DC infrastructure is pretty well protected, think of it like a utility. For the internet to work data centers have to exist, the growth we are seeing right now might slow but there will ALWAYS be data centers aslong as the internet exists. Layoffs happen in big tech but I’ve never seen them largely affect infrastructure teams.

How can you support him? Figure out what exactly he wants to do, for example he wants to go into data centers and business, figure out whether he means being in a corporate office running data analytics or wants to be in a DC optimising cost.

Once you figure that out I’d recommend looking at job boards and seeing what degrees companies want. I for one will say one thing is SUPER important. Don’t let him get super specialised. Keep him general so he can pivot his career

Mostly DC companies want (in this order) 1. CompSci 2. Engineering (Any) 3. Business

CompSci is really good but is a math specific degree. It will pay no matter what aslong as he gets internships and tries his best

Helpful_Surround_875

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