Data Center Jobs: A Bubble of Safety in These Days of Rampant Outsourcing

Data Center Jobs: A Bubble of Safety in These Days of Rampant Outsourcing
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It's good to hear that one type of IT position seems relatively safe from being sent overseas, writes Associate Editor Lisa Vaas. I recently met with Jill Eckhaus, president of AFCOM, an association that represents enterprise and Internet data center managers, executives and vendors.

According to Eckhaus, data center professionals have a lot on their minds these days, whether its disaster recovery in the face of the possibility of massive electrical outages a la last summer or the fact that data center facilities dont have the cooling capabilities required to run the clusters of blade servers were now seeing coming into data centers.

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One thing they dont have on their minds, however, is job security. I raised the question because, over the course of years of reporting on offshore outsourcing and the political quagmire that is the H-1B visa program, scores of readers always came back to me with this one, crucial question: What IT jobs are safe?

Perhaps, what with the reviving economy, it might strike you that this is no longer a pressing concern. After all, DBA (database administrator) salaries, for one, are finally recuperating from the slump following the burst Internet bubble.

Channel Zone Editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols says outsourcing doesnt necessarily mean jobs leave the country. Click here to read more.

According to figures from IT recruiting firm Dice Inc., the average DBA is now pulling in $82,430 annually. That ranges from Access DBAs making $76,438 on up to contractors, who are taking home $99,900. Its also up from $75,289 when times were bad.

Next page: Outsourcing creeps up the food chain.

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