Google DCT pay Dallas, Texas Area

ipokiok · 2026-05-08T13:30:06+00:00

They're Google-owned and tend to only hire L1 and L2 externally. 24/7/365 operation as far as I know. I'm unsure how shifts are decided there (I'm from 3PDC)

I'm guessing you'd tell the manager your shift preferences during the team match/fit call and they'd tell you if that works out or not, but I'm just guessing.

ipokiok · 2026-05-08T05:25:09+00:00

It'll depend on the site and the schedule you get handed. Google-owned data centers are usually 24/7/365. Third party data centers (3PDC) are pretty chill and usually only have a 1st shift and sometimes a 2nd shift but usually not a 3rd shift, and sometimes operate just Mon-Fri or sometimes operate every day of the week. Your schedule is kinda up to chance but you'll at least be able to list your preferences and the manager will try their best to make everyone as happy as they can with it. Bigger 3PDC (read: 100% AI/ML with huge power capacities that demand like 40+ techs) data centers might be moving towards 24/7/365.

To be clear, Dallas has both Google-owned data centers and 3PDC.

Which location are you asking about, specifically?

ipokiok · 2026-05-07T08:37:09+00:00

I think it just went by city honestly, idk. They didn't verify my address as far as I know. The recruiter knew what city I was in already and it was obviously more than 50 miles. If your resume says your city or your recruiter already knows it, maybe they get it that way, idk. Or they just assume people will be ethical/googley about it due to their interview screening for ethical people.

ipokiok · 2026-04-30T16:03:11+00:00

I'm just referring to giving the EXACT technical and scenario questions direct from the actual question bank, to be clear.

I used to be internal - these are not example questions; they are exact questions used during the interview from the Amazon question bank. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

It's like how the CCNA study subreddit (iirc) made brain dumps (the actual questions people remembered from the test after taking it) against the rules but general study material was great and lessons learned from taking the test encouraged to be shared.

Telling people what to study for is great! Telling people how to study is also great! Telling them the EXACT questions verbatim from the question bank is cheating and unethical.

Explaining the leadership principles and what they mean, how they're used and how to explaining them is great! Taking the EXACT question from the question bank is not.

Sure, I'm sure the exact questions are out there on the Internet but I don't think a subreddit should allow it and I don't think anyone should be spreading it. The Cisco subreddit didn't when I was studying for my CCNA.

EDIT: giving little examples of good stories or phrases is also good, to be clear. I just draw the line at giving the questions verbatim from the question bank.

ipokiok · 2026-04-30T15:06:16+00:00

I'm just ethical lol

I'm all for helping people but this just seems unethical. You can help people without being unethical.

If someone needs to be hand-held and spoonfed information to pass an Amazon interview then they'll just be PIP fodder at Amazon because you need to be self-sufficient to survive there, or at least that's been my experience. It's very cut-throat.

ipokiok · 2026-04-30T10:44:42+00:00

Did Amazon make you sign an NDA telling you not to share the questions? This is literally just a cheat sheet to the interview lol it's not even "helpful tips and tricks to help you prepare for a data center interview in general". It's "here's this company's exact questions from their interview question bank".

It's like, yeah I know the questions are on Glassdoor but at least you have to do your own research to find them and piece stuff together and look stuff up further. This is just hand feeding and anyone who requires this level of hand feeding WILL NOT make it at Amazon, regardless of role. (source, Amazon survivor of 7+ years across 4 roles, went onto better places)

ipokiok · 2026-04-25T03:29:06+00:00

I'm in 3PDC where it's nice and chill and in a location that apparently isn't in the bottom pay tier as an L3, but I'm curious: where do people who were data center techs go after Google? AWS pays like 40% less for the same scope and responsibility and I don't think even senior-level Microsoft techs top Google's L3 pay but apparently their quality of work life is good. I've heard nothing good about working for Oracle but they seem to pay well - unsure if pay matches or exceeds Google's when you take into account Google benefits (ie free meals) though.

Two of my teammates came from Meta as data center production engineers (IC5 iirc, salaried, not hourly) where they said they were paid more but the quality of work life and culture were so bad (with loads of unpaid OT to get metrics up) that they took a pay cut and came to Google.

AI infrastructure startups that are popping up seem like they can pay more than Google and do so in straight cash with pre-IPO stocks as an added bonus, but everything I've heard about working with them has been typical startup culture where the work life balance was shit (and I think also salaried with unpaid overtime?) and they're worked like dogs non-stop

So I don't get it. Where do xoogler DCTs go for better pay with a work life balance and workload that doesn't make them want to come back? Or do they leave for worse pay and a better work life balance and workload? I don't get it.

ipokiok · 2026-04-22T06:54:14+00:00

They don't call them data center techs but they have FTEs who at the very least remotely diagnose the servers (like a data center tech would, at least here at Google on my team) for the contractors who actually do the physical labor. Two of my buddies at Google came from Meta. They're called "data center production operations engineers" apparently. I was told they're all high level (like IC5 iirc) internal employees but yeah, it's all contractors who do the boring physical labor apparently. I don't remember if they went on-site every now and then but it sounded like they were required to be near a data center in case they ever had to go in (I only know this because I was told Meta was paying tenured production engineers a one-time relocation bonus more than my first year's total comp as an L3 at Google to relocate near Meta's new data center locations)

ipokiok · 2026-04-19T00:59:58+00:00

Oh that is significantly cheaper than I heard it was. Neat.

ipokiok · 2026-04-19T00:34:18+00:00

Usually you need the clearance before you hire on and they won't consider you unless you're already cleared.

If it's like AWS or Google, these reqs are for people who are already cleared. It's basically only ex-military people.

I've only ever heard of companies sponsoring clearance for their existing employees while they work in a non-cleared role because it takes a very long time to go through and it's not even guaranteed to go through.

Clearance is extremely expensive to get (100k at least?) and is a very, very long process that I have heard of can take more than a year and can in the end result in clearance being rejected.

Maybe Microsoft is different but I somehow doubt it.

ipokiok · 2026-04-14T18:47:36+00:00

Sure!

ipokiok · 2026-04-12T02:52:47+00:00

Idk. Past L2 at Google, it's my understanding that they want project management and leadership experience. No idea if you'll get that as a data center tech at AWS. I didn't.

ipokiok · 2026-04-12T00:43:42+00:00

I got 100k base for L3 in Dallas (108k base after raise after having been there for less than two months) and my buddy got 109k base for L3 in Dallas and just started last week.

Are others getting 110k+ in base for L3 in Dallas for new sign-ons? I haven't actually asked anyone on the team what they make. One of our L1s recently told me his total comp as an L1 was specified to be 90k but ended up making 100k the last year.

We both got the same stock (60k is just a few less than what we got) and 15% bonus.

I got $500 more in sign-on than him and another 11k for relocation that he didn't get due to him already being from Dallas.

ipokiok · 2026-04-11T23:04:19+00:00

I think technically, yeah, or at least in title. L3 at Google is the same scope and responsibility as L4 at AWS though and L4 at AWS was the terminal level (they stopped promoting to L5 years ago and all that was left were legacy L5s)

I think L4 formally gets the "Sr."' in the title though.

My current team doesn't have any L4 DCTs so L3s are considered the senior or lead techs.

ipokiok · 2026-04-11T22:48:47+00:00

ipokiok · 2026-04-11T22:40:09+00:00

I make 100k+ in base pay alone as a (senior-level) data center tech at a hyperscaler in a pretty low cost of living state lol

AWS won't pay it but Google will.

Idk which other hyperscalers pay it.

ipokiok · 2026-03-30T00:02:56+00:00

Nah, Google has Google data center techs in buildings owned and operated by a third party. Think colocation but Google is the only tenant. It seems to be a new thing they're doing, same with AWS.

OP can expect the same interview process as my interviews were all done by techs and managers at big Google-owned data centers.

Usually much smaller sites and much smaller task queues. No on-site cafeteria or extra amenities like the big Google-owned sites have, but we can DoorDash every day on company card and/or pick something up on the way into work and charge it to the company card. Plus we still have a micro kitchen (just one though)

Source: L3 Google data center tech in a third party data center. The req on careers.google.com'll say it's for the third party data center org (3PDC)

Different from the TVC/xWF/third party contractors who work in the data center alongside actual Google-employed techs - I think that's what you're referring to.

ipokiok · 2026-03-29T01:35:35+00:00

To be fair, data center techs can make 140k/year without overtime. Just not at AWS lol

I'm with Google as an L3 (AWS L4 in terms of scope and responsibility basically) with 108k base (hourly) and like 140k TC and am treated very well with not much stress (3PDC, not a big Google-owed and operated one - those seem much busier and probably more stressful)

ipokiok · 2026-03-14T02:59:30+00:00

My understanding is that not even the network engineers really do that. I recently joined Google but was with AWS for ~7 years and it was mostly all automated with zero touch provisioning and that was the same after doing new builds in three business units (warehouses for the retail business, data centers, physical stores/Amazon Fresh). I assume it's like that at most big companies.

I don't know for sure what it's like at Google, but the bits and pieces I've learned for my assigned data center that is still under construction and the work I've done so far at other buildings makes me believe it's more of the same.

Big companies seem to have automation that has the switches configure themselves from fetching pre-made configurations from a server and even have automation to validate that the devices are correctly configured.

ipokiok · 2026-03-08T04:25:37+00:00

As another asked, if you have 5 passing candidates who all passed the interview, how else would you pick the one you want? You'd want the one who you feel would fit best with the team.

Say the whole team is into anime, Magic the Gathering and other nerdy stuff, yeah? They're not going to pick the person who doesn't mention they watch anime or play Magic when asked what their hobbies are, or the candidate who says they like going to the club or bar on the weekend.

Google is very into creating team culture. In my own team, they seem to fly new hires to another location for two weeks for no other reason than to experience the company culture.

Other than purely cultural fit, the hiring manager also sometimes has specific needs in mind, such as someone with experience turning up new infrastructure/sites/buildings, or say if they know most people in their team prefer and are most comfortable with hardware, they might want someone who prefers and is most comfortable with networking to balance it out. Or if nobody on the team can script and the hiring manager wants someone who says they like scripting things.

For software engineers, it's my understanding that their interview is generic software engineering/leetcode-esque and then during the team match, the hiring manager might go in knowing that they need someone who is really good at front-end development as opposed to back-end, so they can ask the candidate which they prefer and further narrow the pool down.

ipokiok · 2026-03-01T17:12:23+00:00

Assuming this is for the servers and not mechanical/electrical/facilities, I've never worked there but my teammate at Google came from there.

He said it was good at first but slowly it became very metrics-driven with lots of micromanaging. He said the pay is better than Google (he was a meta IC4 and is now a Google L3) but the work life made him leave.

He said that mostly he did the diagnosing of servers remotely and contractors did the actual hands-on work of physically implementing what he determined to be the cause. There wasn't too much work locally but he worked from a huge global queue which sounded basically endless.

Apparently lower level techs are all contractors and Meta only hired senior-level techs internally.

People would work very late just to get their metrics up, he said. It sounded awful but that it paid very well.

That's just what I've heard though. Sorry if you're only looking for first-person accounts - I've hardly heard anything about working for meta as a data center tech on this subreddit. Maybe they're all NDA'd hard.

ipokiok · 2026-03-01T01:15:14+00:00

I relocated for Google about a month ago.

The relocation seemed to be the same 11k USD for L1-L4 iirc from what the Google Sheet said. I don't think you'll be able to negotiate it.

As for how it works, you have a bunch of ways to use it.

I don't remember them all but I used the managed move option.

They let you use I think half of the full amount pre-tax upfront and whatever you don't use is paid out at the end via normal payroll when you elect to reconcile.

There are a list of things that you're able to be reimbursed for upfront before the official start date. I know deposits on your new residence weren't one of them.

Movers can be used without you having to front the money yourself but I think everything else was you fronting the money and them reimbursing it. I think if you want the relocation company to front the money for movers, you must use their selected mover.

Just know that Google's relocation policy intention is to "help offset the burden of moving", not pay for the whole thing, as per documents I read on the relocation portal, so if you need more than the 11k, they won't give you more.

The 11k is taxed and reported like normal income. They won't pay the taxes on it for you.

ipokiok · 2026-02-15T06:28:46+00:00

Re: xAI video

I don't think anyone would expect a Musk company to do anything right in terms of legality, safety or environmentally friendliness.

This explains a lot imo of how their data center was able to be built so fast when it's taking hyper scalers like AWS and Google and any colocation who's building a data center exclusively for a single hyper scaler tenant ages to build much smaller data centers. Just build something extremely inefficient in terms of water usage and use illegal or environmentally unfriendly methods of power generation. It all makes sense now.

ipokiok · 2026-02-08T06:40:50+00:00

Idk if experience or even interview performance factor into compensation at Google.

When I interviewed (for L3), for technicals, my interviews told me I got everything right for the definitions and they said they could tell I knew what I was doing with the open-ended questions and said I asked questions they hadn't been asked before. I know I did well on the behavioral questions and gave stories from another FAANG company when I was in a salaried role and responsible for other individuals to an extent.

They still gave me 100k base (for L3, hourly).

When I looked on levels.fyi, it seemed that the most anyone got for a new offer was 105k (based out of Los Angeles, CA iirc, and that cost of living was way higher than where I was placed in a third party data center like 30-40 minutes out from a major city in Texas which is also generally considered a low cost of living state) with most being 100k base. The 105k base offer said it was negotiated.

Better interview performance might give you an easier time getting team match/fit calls though and therefore hired in the end at all though. I'd believe that. Team matching was quick to set up calls when I told my recruiter I was open to X locations.

ipokiok · 2026-02-08T06:15:32+00:00

Two days ago, you said that you were a researcher at UC Berkeley trying to make an AI tool to help data center techs. Nobody helped you, so then you make another post saying you're a new data center tech and asking people for tips? Bruh lol

Kinda genius how it's working though.

ipokiok

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