re: Construction

Ok so I assume you have a question or comment about data centers.

They are being built, in a frenzy.

Every new data center being built will result in 5 older ones being shut down.

What is your question?

By the time OP becomes a data center "expert" there will be 1/5 the number of data centers that exist now. The boom will be over.

What is your definition of a "data center expert"?

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I don't have a definition of a datacenter expert.
I work in the commercial construction industry.
I'm familiar with project managers and superintendents that build them.

I'm advising OP that if he's interested in construction, learn to build a DC.

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Architects and engineers design it, why would OP have to be an expert to read the drawings?

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If you'd ever seen a DC plan you'd know why.
Sleep well DeepRiddle.

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Okay, you too.


Nighty night.

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Just looking at career options and considering these. Trying to gain some information from wise counsel.

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I have spent a considerable amount of my career as a project manager in specialty trades. Almost impossible today to get a foot in the door without an engineering degree....when you consider the number of people graduating with electrical, civil and mechanical engineering degrees every 90 days or so in the us the old track of an experienced tradesman working their way into management it is almost impossible unless you start your own firm.

Even with an engineering degree without a PE License and PMP Certification it can take many years to get to PM.

I see a BUNCH of growth, however, in construction management. Tradesmen are getting scarce.....it takes a LOT more management to complete a project now than it did 20 years ago. Back then on $100 million project you'd have a PM for most trades and craftsmen managed the job.....that is rare today.....because tradesmen can make more money working with their tools and we can work past the age of 50 because of demand and technology that has made the job less strenuous and much safer....now there are construction management professionals filling the role of craft superintendents.

Specialty trade contractors are also much more business savvy than they were 20 years ago. Managing work requires skills that most tradesmen do not want. Construction management is a much simpler degree to complete than an engineering degree and salaries without the PE and PMP are comparable.

Another HUGE untapped segment in the construction industry is quality assurance......civil projects are booming and the industry is finally realizing that the cost of poor quality very quickly strips any savings. Again lots of engineers willing to fill those positions. I have got out if the PM game and I'm working in construction QA now....it is almost untapped and going to be the biggest change in the industry in the next 20-30 years.

I completed. 4.5 year apprenticeship in my trade and completed an EET degree at the same time.....I got in at the tail end of the nuclear boom so I have a background in QA that very few construction people possess today.....and there is no limit on the horizon in construction QA.....it is going to big going forward.

To be completely honest though the growth in the industry is going to be skilled tradesmen. There are billions of dollars of projects around the country not starting due to a severe shortage of tradesmen. Welders in NM are making 6 figures a year......and it ain't unusual. There are IBEW locals on the west coast with scales of $60+ an hour in your pocket plus a couple of hundred dollars per diem and 15% in your pension plus a helluva Union retirement plan. Time and a half over 8 everyday and Saturdays and double time on Sunday. Several locals in need of hundreds of hands RIGHT NOW.....calls going Unfilled everyday. It ain't unheard of for an IBEW electrician to make $150k a year in wages building solar farms on the west coast It ain't easy work but it's much easier today...and infinitely safer...than it was when I went into the trades.

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Have you ever worked with Allison Smith?

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I have....one of the best electrical contractors in the US for employees and customers alike. Cleveland and Inglett and Stubbs are also in that category.


Cleveland is making a big push to QA....they have always been on the cusp of industry innovation....

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In addition to our main ATL site, our other main site is in CA.

We've done the math....

We could fly our two main ATL electricians out to CA for a week, give them $50/d per diem, put them up in a decent hotel, pay their rental car, fly them back, pay for their travel time, plus 40 hours each, and it is still cheaper than what our two regular IBEW guys are in CA for just 40 hours.

We broached this with AS, they said no-can-do... IBEW breaks legs for that kind of shite.

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Allison Smith is as good an Electrical contractor as there is in the nation. The only thing keeping them from doing what you are suggesting is the fact that they are a responsible contractor. Call Miller Electric....they'll do it and Florida hands won't have ANY problem going. Unfortunately they probably won't get any legs broken either.... 20 years ago my brothers would have taken care of that shite in the parking lot and the Florida hand would go home and sign the book....but the IBEW has no limit on how many hands a contractor can bring into a jurisdiction any longer. The local will tell you that it is still one foreman and 4 JWs. They aren't telling the truth. Miller Electric has hundreds of Florida hands working all over the country....many in jurisdictions with local hands on book one.....these ratty bastards don't even pay the local BA a courtesy call....the IBEW has a term for this but every district has fallen in line. True IBEW members have a term for it also....it's called ratty assed worm......


Cache Valley in Utah will do it also.....the days of IBEW members respecting jurisdictions died during the Great Recession....it's all about me and mine now and frick a brother

Actually, I'm on the FA side, as I was an electrician in a past life who moved my way up through the ranks, from commercial electrical, to tenant side FA, test & inspection in the field, and then on to contract sales. Now I do T&I with the bulk of it being new construction FA

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Construction by VoxDawgYou guys ever hire subs for fire alarm/security? I'm an Account Exec for a pretty big integrator. We're always looking for decent ECs to work with.

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We do from time to time, just depends on how the customer/GC wants to handle their subs.