As we experience rapid growth driven by cloud infrastructure demand, AI workloads, and digital transformation, addressing the data center talent gap has never been more critical.
With May being National Military Appreciation Month, it’s a fitting reminder that veterans can be key to helping solve the industry’s critical workforce challenge, bringing transferable skills and a range of technical capabilities.
Tapping Into Military Excellence
Veterans bring discipline, precision, and a mission-oriented mindset to the data center workplace. These attributes, honed in military service, align seamlessly with the industry’s demands.
Military personnel embody rigorous attention to detail, stellar project management skills, and an unwavering commitment to integrity, which are essential traits in building, operating, and maintaining digital infrastructure. Roles suited to this workforce include operations, engineering, security, customer service, and tech support.
As a Navy veteran and leader of our global engineering teams at EdgeConneX, I’ve seen firsthand how the skills developed in military service translate into tremendous value in the data center industry.
A Proven Partnership
Since 2014, EdgeConneX has collaborated with Salute Mission Critical to bridge the skills gap while fostering career paths for veterans.
Salute Mission Critical has been at the forefront of leveraging this potential. A recognized leader in data center services, they’re helping veterans build fulfilling, meaningful careers in the tech sector through specialized training and career-enabling programs.
Together, we’ve designed and implemented programs highlighting how military precision and data center innovation can converge to drive impactful results. Currently, 135+ Salute Mission Critical employees are deployed across EdgeConneX global facilities.
Our partnership with Salute Mission Critical is more than just collaboration; it’s a commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for veterans to thrive while addressing the talent gap and building the infrastructure that powers our digital future.
From Service to the Frontlines of Innovation
The need for skilled professionals in the data center industry has surged due to growing AI-fueled workloads and an aging workforce. With hundreds of thousands of jobs projected to open across the sector, harnessing transferable skills from military service is a creative and effective solution.
Establishing career paths for veterans and their families means creating workforces capable of adapting to high-demand technologies such as AI and managing complex data center operations.
Each direct data center job also supports more than six additional jobs across supply chains, local infrastructure projects, and regional economic development. Training veterans to take on these pivotal roles solves workforce challenges and strengthens the broader community they’ve pledged to serve.
Sustainability is another critical factor in this equation. Veterans’ expertise in problem-solving and operational efficiency makes them well-suited to tackling the greatest challenges technology companies face today, such as balancing emerging AI and high-density workload demands with renewable energy opportunities.
Transforming the Future
The convergence of military expertise and data center innovation isn’t just solving today’s talent gap – it’s shaping tomorrow’s digital infrastructure. Veterans bring more than technical skills; they bring leadership, adaptability, and an unwavering commitment to excellence that our industry desperately needs.
As we face unprecedented challenges, veterans are key to bridging the talent gap and contributing to the design, construction, and innovation of the data centers of the future.
