Data centers are facing an image problem.

@climatenewsnow And yet datacenters themselves employ almost no local skilled labor once they're built. You'll have physical security (usually outsourced), an electrician if it's a colocation datacenter (also usually outsourced), and an on-prem remote hands person or two who also handle shipping and any other physical work that needs occasional doing. Groundskeepers (outsourced), maybe a manager just to have someone in charge of it (though I've never seen one, just bad corporate photos in a frame on the wall).

Of these, only the electrician and the manager are considered skilled labor. Remote hands at some datacenters is unskilled enough that I've had clients pay four figures for me to drive an hour, insert a hot-swappable NVMe, and drive home rather than pay the nominal remote hands fee for someone already on-site to do it.

Everything else about running a datacenter can be done remotely, with perhaps an occasional trip to the physical location. I've spent a good deal of time inside a few datacenters, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone (clients aside) who don't fall into one of the above categories. I'm sure I'm missing some role, but the promises of permanent local jobs are utter bullshit.

@climatenewsnow that is funny, it is not the image that is the issue, it is the everything else.