I'm currently 22 yrs into an air quality permitting/compliance/regulatory affairs career. Over the past couple months I've been contacted on LinkedIn by three separate companies in the data center sector. All three roles were air program manager roles asking for 10 yrs experience related to power generation for data centers. The salaries these companies are throwing around is insane. They are all around 60% more than I currently make in the midstream/refining sector with similar benefits plus fully remote. I don't believe I'm drastically underpaid either. Is this a flash in the pan? Are they resetting the market?

Enviroag02 said:

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I'm currently 22 yrs into an air quality permitting/compliance/regulatory affairs career. Over the past couple months I've been contacted on LinkedIn by three separate companies in the data center sector. All three roles were air program manager roles asking for 10 yrs experience related to power generation for data centers. The salaries these companies are throwing around is insane. They are all around 60% more than I currently make in the midstream/refining sector with similar benefits plus fully remote. I don't believe I'm drastically underpaid either. Is this a flash in the pan? Are they resetting the market?

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Been in data centers for years, its been a great industry and has always paid very well. The recent AI boom has caused a massive labor shortage, a friend at Texas Instruments said a lot of his team has left for around double the pay. The current backlog for the infrastructure build out is several years.

Happy to answer any questions!

Hit me up I am hiring for multiple data centers. Construction majors and civil engineers 3 to 5 years at a school and one position that is remote approximately 8 to 10 years out of school..

What's your email?

Enviroag02 said:

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I'm currently 22 yrs into an air quality permitting/compliance/regulatory affairs career. Over the past couple months I've been contacted on LinkedIn by three separate companies in the data center sector. All three roles were air program manager roles asking for 10 yrs experience related to power generation for data centers. The salaries these companies are throwing around is insane. They are all around 60% more than I currently make in the midstream/refining sector with similar benefits plus fully remote. I don't believe I'm drastically underpaid either. Is this a flash in the pan? Are they resetting the market?

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My boss will probably see this but if you are not interested, I certainly would be.

Reached out off of previous post

Coates, could you send me an email at kaleb@kleenairfilters.com?

Coates said:

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What's your email?

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Could you send me an email Manurodr8@aol.com

Charles.neathery@accenture.com

Emailed

To address the OP, what is the plan when this boom blows over? Sure, they will still need enviro folks, but not nearly the same volume. I can see this as a good option if you only have a couple years to the finish line. 10+ years, maybe not such a good move.

And, the market for folks like us needs a little resetting anyway. They take us for granted.

Would someone that has three years experience in O&G vapor recovery and emissions, specifically LDAR & OOOOa/OOOOb work have a snowballs chance in hell on getting in with data centers? Looking for a change, XOM is an absolute nightmare to work for these days. They have completely crashed the awesome work culture we had at PNR, company morale is through the floor currently.

I found roles with data centers the opposite of what you're finding. I'm a 20 year environmental guy (last 15ish in O&G) and have interviewed for several Senior Manager/Director level roles with a few data center companies. They were consistently 30-50% low in salary for those roles. And I agree with Milwaukee, I don't have a lot of confidence in longevity. Too many new players and uncertainty on who will be around in 10-15 years through consolidation.

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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Would someone that has three years experience in O&G vapor recovery and emissions, specifically LDAR & OOOOa/OOOOb work have a snowballs chance in hell on getting in with data centers? Looking for a change, XOM is an absolute nightmare to work for these days. They have completely crashed the awesome work culture we had at PNR, company morale is through the floor currently.

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Generally they want some exposure to the AI stack. But If you're pretty familar with the HV/MV power gen part you'll stand out. But they'll probably throw you into a starting role for lower pay while complaining they can't find someone for the senior role who fits every T.

I've been in general construction for 15 years now. I've not really been interested in AI or data centers, but at the same time, I'm really getting tired of K-12 construction.

The construction side of the data centers doesn't seem to be difficult, although I would probably need to get more familiar with the electrical side of things (which is something I enjoy). I can also only imagine the stresses of deadlines with that type of equipment usually carrying a long lead time. I've heard data centers are pretty much taking priority to everything else, so maybe it's not as bad as I've made it out to be.

A guy that works for one of my A/V subs just left his company to work remotely for a data center design/construction company for around $250k per year.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of construction/engineering work background did you have prior to working on data centers, and how was the transition?

I've built schools, stadiums (including Kyle Field), police stations, arenas, etc.