By: Emma Fryer, Director of Public Policy, Europe
It’s an unfortunate fact that there are not enough women working in the data center industry. This is a concern for many reasons but in this instance, I’m going to focus on three: firstly, this is a critical sector that essentially underpins the functioning of our daily lives; secondly, the industry is facing unprecedented demand, meaning it is a high-growth sector; and thirdly, we are grappling with notable challenges that are impeding our ability to meet this demand. All of these elements require diversity of thought to ensure that the industry innovates and accelerates in the right way, while creatively navigating the obstacles.
Having worked in this sector for almost 15 years, I’ve seen this industry go through many changes. What has always been true is that I have always felt very cherished and welcomed here and I think this has been the case with many of my female colleagues throughout the years. However, this industry undoubtedly has a prevailing perception issue that is impacting our ability to attract diverse talent – something that my colleague, Aashna Puri, spoke about last year – and that we need to address as a priority.
But instead of dwelling further on this, I instead wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned in the hope that they may help dispel any residual doubts or hesitation for women who are considering entering this sector.
1. You can arrive knowing very little and if you’re prepared to listen, you can add a huge amount of value.
In fact, when I entered the industry, my value lay in not understanding it, because my job was to explain it to other people who didn’t understand it either. So once I got to grips with it on my own terms, I knew how to describe it to policymakers, the communities, and various stakeholders in ways that resonated.
There is often the mistaken belief that you need to have complete knowledge, capability, and experience to qualify for a given role. However, I think that the interesting part – both for us and for the employee – lies in what we don’t know. This helps us see the industry from the outside in, and identify creative approaches that make things better.
2. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.
I will actually touch upon the misperceptions of the industry here – as one repercussion is that people don’t understand the enormous opportunity this sector provides across multiple disciplines.
It is also a real privilege to be part of a high-growth industry that is evolving rapidly. For instance, the accelerating deployment of AI is being and will continue to be powered by data centers. The opportunities this provides cannot be underestimated. Don’t be afraid to grab those opportunities with both hands.
3. Be yourself!
This advice applies to every facet of life, across every career. In my journey to grasping the more complex aspects of data centers, I started to describe them as sherry trifles (the different service layers!) and a train (it draws with it a huge value chain of customers and suppliers). No one had done that before. However, bringing my own personality had many benefits in helping the myriad stakeholders truly understand the many layers (!) of the sector.
This sector will continue to benefit from people showing up as they are to their jobs. In fact, it’s essential to the success of this industry.
This industry should not be pigeonholed. It is an evolving sector, still very early in its development. The opportunity is limitless. However, we as an industry will be constrained if we impose boundaries on ourselves and don’t attract diverse thinking and ways of working. Don’t underestimate us.
by 
