As people’s lives get more intertwined with technology, there’s a silent giant that a lot of people have never even heard of, let alone considered for a career—the data center, aka the mission-critical industry. Carrie Goetz, Principal and CTO of Strategitcom, LLC, has a crucial message for job seekers: with over 300,000 open roles, data centers are a gold mine for employment opportunities across various educational backgrounds and walks of life. Diving into this lesser-known but rapidly expanding field might just be your ticket to a rewarding career regardless of your education level.
Carrie, who penned the Amazon best-seller “Jumpstart Your Career in Data Centers: Featuring Careers for Women, Trades, and Vets in Tech and Data Centers,” explains how you likely use these data centers daily without even realizing it. “When we talk about things going to the cloud, we forget there’s a very real physical place where all this data actually lives,” says Goetz. “In fact, every known digitally documented thing lives in at least one data center.” She warns that college curricula and degrees are lagging behind the explosive growth of data centers, which means many skilled individuals are overlooking this industry. They simply don’t know it exists or don’t know the immense span of careers.
It’s not just about filling seats; diversity is vital. “The more diversity of thought we have, the greater our innovations and worth,” Goetz emphasizes. She explains that technology must include everyone to work for everyone. It’s an industry calling for varied perspectives that lead to inventive, compassionate, and effective solutions.
What’s truly commendable is how Goetz’s work reaches various demographics often underrepresented in tech. “I wrote these books to help people like women, veterans, and those in the trades see their value as employees building and running data centers,” she shares. Considering the 67% attrition rate for women in tech, veterans struggling to find post-military careers, and tradespeople unaware of the opportunities that their skill sets offer, Goetz’s mission is indeed a beacon of hope.
For the younger crowd and those shaping their minds, Goetz doesn’t leave them out. She crafted resources like “Polly Packet’s Precious Payload: All Smile to the Data Center” and “The Educator’s Reference for Data Center Education” to bring data center conversations into the classroom. Such efforts aren’t just about career prep; they’re about creating an informed society that understands the backbone of the digital world and their responsibilities within it. Understanding the data center ecosystem will help people be better stewards and digital citizens. From sustainability to the servers cabling to the cloud, every working mechanism within the ecosystem is integral to sustainable performance.
“Beyond digital technology, Carrie very much understands the growing need for clean power solutions to fuel our digital future. We are proud to partner with her deploying our on-site, low to no-carbon power solutions!” says Gavin McQueen, President and CEO of Anthem Energy Partners. It’s clear that her input is not only shaping individual careers but is also steering companies towards sustainability success.
With more than four decades of global experience in designing, running, and auditing data centers, Carrie has an impressive list of accolades to her name, from the Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from AFCOM/Data Center World to being dubbed the ICT Woman of the Year by BICSI in 2023, and Mission Critical’s Top 25 Women in Mission Critical for the last two years. Her impact and knowledge are undeniable, with a footprint in over 250 publications across 69 countries.
Beyond her professional prowess, Carrie also devotes energy to advocating for STEM education and shares her expertise live and through her mentorship and podcast series, Careers for Women, Trades, and Vets in Tech and Data Centers. With two patents to her name, she’s a living example of where experiential knowledge and forward-thinking can take you in this field. Carrie often travels and mentors people joining the industry. Her work to add data center coursework to shop, IT, coding programs, and tech merit badges is designed to add data centers to these programs to help students find a well-paying home for their skills. Goetz says, “We owe the trades everything; if it weren’t for the trades, nothing would be built.”
If you want to be part of an invisible giant that commands the new digital frontier, or if you’re just curious about the powerhouse behind Carrie Goetz’s wisdom, find her insights and inspiration, or invite her to speak to your class, reach out on LinkedIn, Facebook, or X under her handle @carriejgoetz. There’s an open invitation from the data center industry, and it’s clear that with mentors like Carrie paving the way, the path forward is brighter than ever.
Published by: Nelly Chavez
