DC Professional Development

Many professional disciplines converge on the data center, some require a degree level qualification, some are more vocational in nature, but all require ongoing educational development to maintain their credentials, which in most cases is provided through professional bodies responsible for the accreditation of their members.

Due to the way that data centers have evolved, their design and operation has created complex interdependencies between these disciplines, that can often have a fundamental impact on the effi ciency, reliability and availability, of what is to most organisations considered critical infrastructure.

Understanding of these issues can often only be gained through experiential learning. Whilst a fragmented landscape of learning opportunities currently exists, it is commonly acknowledged that a more robust, and coordinated pathway of professional development specifi c to the data center would bring with it many benefits. This Career Progression Framework has been developed with this in mind, through close cooperation with key industry organisations and recognised data center experts across the world.

DCProfessional Development has access to a growing pool of part-time and full-time trainers worldwide, each with a minimum of 10 years technical project experience within the data center industry, each acknowledged as experts in the field. Our trainers’ ability to share tips and tricks, as well as real project experience, is vital for our students and is a large part of what puts our training in a class by itself. Trainers and students, alike, benefit from the peering/networking format of our classroom training.

Students learn from recognized industry experts with real life experience. Trainers learn from those “in the trenches” and incorporate that learning into a cycle of continuous improvement, ensuring our course materials remain relevant and focused on the most timely topics affecting the data center industry today.

Multi-lingual capabilities 
Whilst all our trainers are highly proficient in English, they may also train students in their native tongue. At present, in addition to English, we are teaching in Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese.

DCProfessional Development’s interactive e-learning software is designed to be used without manuals or workbooks, providing students with a multi-faceted learning experience. We currently have a 16 module certificate course that can be taken online abd in 2012 we will be working with ASHRAE to bring their best practice recommendations into this online teaching environment.

A Unique Foundational Course for Mission Critical Engineering and Facilities Management 

Based on the highly acclaimed book “Maintaining Mission Critical Facilities Engineering in a 7/24 Environment” (see slide 10), this 16 part online course has been developed to take engineers from the basic concepts that underpin mission critical practice through to more specific area focus  areas that complete the discipline; it is the only foundational course for Mission Critical Engineering and Facilities Management in existence today.

We are delighted to announce that we are working with TC9.9 to develop a series of online courses using their best practice recommendations and guidelines in conjunction with our unique interactive learning platform that will form part of our career progression framework.

Since 2003, ASHRAEs Technical Commitee 9.9 has been helping the data center industry better understand the technical challenges it faces, publishing numerous guide books that look at best practice for the datacom environment.

The committee is comprised of a wide range of industry representatives including equipment manufacturers, consulting engineers, data center operators, academia, testing laboratories, and government, who are all committed to increasing and sharing the body of knowledge related to data centers.

We look forward to providing the data center community with further information on these courses early in the 2012.