Uptime Institute figures from 2023 suggest that women make up just 8% of the data centre industry — that’s less than traditionally male-dominated industries like construction (11%), mining (15%), and manufacturing (29%).
Compounding the gender issue is the industry being dominated by technical professionals with engineering backgrounds.
Someone who rose past those two roadblocks is Catriona Shearer, global head of data centre consulting at JLL.
She told Capacity that while she didn't arrive with a technical background, the data centre industry needs to rethink its entrenched approaches to roles and qualifications to build a more inclusive and sustainable workforce to overcome the worrying talent crisis.
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A non-traditional path
After successful careers in sales and as a self-employed contractor, she entered the data centre world when a former colleague offered her an opportunity at CBRE.
“The first time I ever stepped foot into a data centre was when they handed me the keys and were like, 'these three are yours now,’” Shearer recalls.
This unconventional entry point highlights one of Shearer's core beliefs about the industry: technical expertise isn't always the most critical factor for success.
“You don't need to be the expert at everything,” she explains. “You just need to know what you're really good at so that when you come into a role, you can bring what you're brilliant at, and you can continue to empower everyone who's brilliant at everything they're brilliant at.”
Beyond technical skills
The dominance of technically minded staff in the data centre industry has long been a hurdle in the market for job seekers.
When asked about the non-technical skills valuable in data centres, Shearer emphasises business acumen and people management.
“If you think about anybody that manages the broader running of a data centre, it requires entirely transferable business skills,” she notes. These include understanding financial flows, managing people effectively, recruiting talent, designing policies, and strategic planning.
Shearer illustrates this with an example of extreme weather planning: “If I'd have given it to the technical team to do, they would have given me the most unwieldy set of technical specifications, and they would have completely forgotten to order food and drink.”
The ability to see how all pieces work together while respecting technical expertise represents a valuable perspective that's often underrepresented in the industry.
Women in data centres: Community and support
A standout feature of the data centre industry, according to Shearer, is how women support each other.
“I've been in 10 industries, and I've never seen this ever,” she says, highlighting a global WhatsApp group with hundreds of women in data centres who share job opportunities and meetup invitations.
The sense of community extends to organised events, like the Women in Tech World Series, the Forum for Women in Data Centres, and iMasons Women, which create touchpoints for networking.
Shearer stressed that such connections and a sense of community have become crucial to helping women navigate an industry where they remain underrepresented, particularly in operational roles.
It’s not just networking either, with such groups helping with informal mentoring — which complements internal mentoring offered by employers like JLL.
“I don't think there's any industry that does mentoring in a particularly structured way, it's too difficult to get people to commit to it,” she said.
“But what I love about data centres and the women in data centres in particular is that they're actively seeking to make those connections and they're giving you the opportunity to have conversations that leads to a mentorship.”
Barriers to entry and advancement
When discussing barriers preventing more women from entering operational roles, Shearer points to role structure as a significant obstacle.
Many positions require shift patterns incompatible with caregiving responsibilities, effectively excluding potential candidates.
“Could a woman in your life take that job?” she often asks hiring managers. “Could they be out of the house for 14 hours a day on a shift?”
Another barrier is the industry's persistent emphasis on prior technical experience.
While Shearer acknowledges the importance of technical qualifications for certain positions, she advocates for recognising potential and transferable skills.
“Just because they don't have those skills yet doesn't mean we can't train them in six to 12 to 18 months,” she argues.
Beyond structural issues, Shearer highlights the numerous practical challenges that can make women feel like outsiders in the industry.
“It's things like uniform and PPE and changing areas and where you get your food and drink and start and finish times and the length of the shift,” she explains.
Even the tools themselves can be problematic: “Our hands are often smaller. If you're going to give us a whopping great big screwdriver, it's probably not going to be as effective as one that fits.”
These seemingly small details collectively create an environment where women may feel like they don't belong — what Shearer describes as “feeling other”.
While she doesn't suggest fixing every single issue, she emphasises two critical areas for improvement: Adjusting role structures (without changing their purpose) and training managers to effectively support a diverse workforce.
“If we can make the role possible by adjusting its structure and its shape, not its purpose, just its structure and its shape, and we train managers to be ready to welcome a diverse workforce and know what to do with them, that would be a measure of success,” Shearer states.
Otherwise, as Shearer cautions: “If we're out there now attracting them, we haven't got roles that fit or managers that can manage.”
Looking to the future
The data centre industry faces a critical workforce challenge, with significant portions of the engineering population quickly approaching retirement, with insufficient numbers entering the pipeline.
“There aren't enough people to run the data centres that are being built,” Shearer warns.
While apprenticeship programmes at companies like Equinix and Microsoft’s Data Centre Academy as well as efforts from outlets like the National Data Centre Academy show promise, Shearer suggests that the lack of a coordinated industry approach.
The solution, she suggests, may lie in broadening recruitment strategies to include those previously overlooked — particularly women.
Shearer identifies two key changes needed for progress:
Redesigning role structures to accommodate diverse life circumstances
Training managers to effectively lead diverse teams
“Unless you train the managers to be able to talk about bumps and boobs and periods and Ramadan and Eid, then yes, we'll attract them... [but] less than a year later, they'll be gone,” she cautions.
As the data centre industry continues its rapid growth, embracing diversity isn't just about equity — it's about addressing a critical talent shortage.
By rethinking traditional approaches to roles and qualifications, the industry has an opportunity to build a more inclusive and sustainable workforce for the future and bring in bright minds like Shearer.
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