S04-E03 Laury is a Senior Control Engineer at Albireo Energy

Laury is a Senior Control Engineer at Albireo Energy in Northern Virginia. Laury is passionate about her career. In this episode here about what working in a data center is like and how you can join this exciting career. At the end of the episode, listen to what Laury has to say about encouraging women to work in technical careers. Laury’s work is inspiring.

The Talking Technicians podcast is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program.

Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation.

Join the conversation. If you are a working technician or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org.

Links from the show:

Episode Web Page: https://micronanoeducation.org/students-parents/talking-technicians-podcast/

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Associate Degree in Engineering Technology: Data Center Operations https://www.nvcc.edu/academics/programs/data-center-operations.html

Albireo Energy in Northern Virginia: https://www.albireoenergy.com/division/mid-atlantic-dc/

Transcript

Peter Kazarinoff  0:03  
From MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, this is Talking Technicians. The podcast about technicians: who they are, what they do, and where they come from. I'm your host, Peter Kazarinoff. I teach technicians and engineers that Portland Community College. In each episode, you'll meet a working technician and hear their story. That means real interviews, with real technicians, about real jobs. At the end of each episode, you'll hear actions you can take if you want to be a technician too.

In this episode, you'll meet Laurie Laurie is a senior control engineer at El Barrio energy and Ashburn, Virginia, which is outside Washington, DC. Laurie, welcome to Talking technicians. Thanks, Peter. I'm happy to be here. So Laurie, you're in Ashburn, Virginia, which is outside Washington, DC. How long have you been there for and what brought you to Ashburn?

Laury  1:07  
So I've been living in Ashburn for almost six years now. So I am originally from West Africa, Cameroon, and I just transfer from West Africa directly to Ashburn, I came here to continue my studies in engineering. So that's what brought me here.

Peter Kazarinoff  1:25  
And, Laura, you work as a Senior control engineer at Oberto energy, could you explain a little bit about what is a senior control engineer and then a little about our berrio energy? Exactly,

Laury  1:39  
of course. So a senior control as a senior control engineer, I take care of everything. That's what we call building automation. As we know, most of our buildings, like electrical or mechanical and cooling are controlled by, you know, these small devices like the term was there or something like that. So it is my responsibility to make sure that those devices are working appropriately. But I do that for larger scales, building like data centers, right, I work particularly with data centers, and data centers, we have a bunch of equipment, a bunch of electrical and mechanical equipment. And on a day to day basis for me is to make sure that all my electrical monitoring system power monitoring systems, working as intended. So we, we give the operator an ability to have a broad view of the building just by looking at one screen. So just sitting by sitting at their desk, they can actually control or know what is happening in which you know, in different parts of the building at a time. And I think that that makes your job easier. So that's what my job is, is to make sure that they have that visibility, and that there's nothing that can stop them from doing that.

Peter Kazarinoff  2:57  
So Laurie, could you explain a little bit about what is the data center? And then why do you need to worry about things like heating and cooling specifically, in them? Why is that important? Oh,

Laury  3:09  
of course. So we all use tick tock, Instagram, Facebook, you know, the internet, everything is on the cloud, like we say, and everybody thinks, oh, the cloud is in the sky. But no, the cloud is not in the sky. And the cloud is in a data center. And I live in Ashburn, Virginia and Ashburn, Virginia, there's this Loudoun County Parkway that is also called Data Center alley that houses more, you know, like the largest population of data centers in the world right now. It's all in Ashburn, Virginia. So there isn't so pretty much this, you know, huge buildings that houses 1000s and 1000s of servers that we also call the cloud, where all of our information, whether it be Facebook, Google, Instagram, or like you know, our school information, medical information, bank information, all those things are housed there in those different buildings, you know, across Ashburn, Virginia and other parts of America and in the world as well. So the reason why we worry about electric electricity and cooling in a datacenter is because, you know, in order for those servers to work, we need electricity, they need power in order for them to be you know, axes and all that and we then need 24/7 power because guess what, internet doesn't go to sleep, we don't go to sleep so Internet doesn't go to sleep. So we need constant power uninterruptible power and those servers you know, as they're being powered all day long on a 24/7 365 databases. They also released a lot of heat in order for us to make sure that they are cooled appropriately. You know, we have what we call our HVAC equipment. You know, we use our air conditioner, you know, computer room, air conditioning or computer home air handler and chillers and chillers, air cooled chillers or water cooled chillers in order for us to provide cooling to the server and make sure that they Do not get, you know, damage by, you know, hit, or that they don't turn off because they are overheating. So that's the reason why we do electrical and mechanical. That's the reason why that's how or why we use, you know, electricity and cooling in data centers, make sure the internet is alive. 24/7.

Peter Kazarinoff  5:18  
So part of your work is keeping all the internet alive and even keeping this podcast episode posted up in the cloud, so folks can listen to it. That's pretty neat.

Laury  5:30  
Exactly. Thank you.

Peter Kazarinoff  5:32  
So how did it feel like your first day of work? This sounds fairly complicated, what did it feel like the first day that you worked for lb the row energy. So,

Laury  5:44  
um, so I will talk about my previous work experience where I worked as a data center, Operation engineer and digital Realty, that was my very first day, you know, stepping inside into the industry, as you know, a data center engineer, so the first day was pretty stressful, I'm gonna say that, just because I just, you know, didn't know what data center I mean, I had a pretty good idea from, you know, learning in college, what data center was, but then here you are all, you know, stepping into this huge building, and all you see is is rooms and rooms and rooms of servers, and then huge electrical equipment. I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I remember looking at my co workers, you know, performing an electrical switching, which is something that we do on a regular basis in a data center, you know, on UPS is in switch gears, and I was so afraid. I was like, Oh, my gosh, what if one of these buttons, you know, just part, what if there's an arc flash? What if there's this, what if there's that, so I was just super, I would say nervous, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to say. And remember, everything in a datacenter is critical, you know, the simplest button, the simplest thing that you can touch can create, you know, a loss of 1000s and 1000s of dollars. So I was always super aware of my surrounding, because I was scared of doing making an error or touching the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing. So it was I was it was a pretty stressful first day. But you know, over the years, I've got pretty comfortable working in a data center. And now I know my way around the data center and critical equipment,

Peter Kazarinoff  7:19  
as well. Yeah, so how does it feel now after those first kind of nervous days? How do you feel when you go in to work now?

Laury  7:28  
Oh, I feel great. You know, over the years, I was able not only to gain experience, but also confidence, you know, around my job, learn the different safety requirements or, you know, protective personal protective equipment that I can use, or just how to protect myself around electricity, right, and also what and what not to touch in your datacenter I got to a point I got from, you know, being nervous of standing in, you know, a datacenter electric grown to actually teaching people about how to, you know, walk and operate in an electrical room, I would say over the years, I think I've had a great experience so far, you know, you will never stop learning, I am still learning, right? But so far I am pretty comfortable with doing my job and also doing it safely. Could

Peter Kazarinoff  8:16  
you provide us with a ballpark salary? For somebody who works in one of these data centers after their community college? What can somebody expect to earn?

Laury  8:25  
Yes, um, so right after Community College, usually, somebody who just comes out of there will start as a salary at like, you know, 35 to $40 an hour, which is a great salary, you know, which is a great salary after only two years of community college. I think that's awesome. I was surprised that when I had to make that that much money, right, you know, while still being in college, because I started working while I was still in college, you because the demand is high in the data center industry, you know, there are looking for people, and more importantly, they're looking for qualified people, you know, to take over the role of taking care of this data center. As you know, everything nowadays is going towards the cloud, everything is going on the internet. So more and more of these data centers are being drilled and more positions are opening up. And you know, we have less people to work in those data centers because not a lot of people, not only not a lot of people are aware of those. Also, we also don't have a lot of qualified people. So coming after coming outside of a community college and being qualified to work in a data center, somebody can easily make a $40 an hour as an entry level salary.

Peter Kazarinoff  9:42  
So Laurie, that's a pretty amazing starting wage after being in community college to make 35 or $40 an hour. Are there other things that go along with that? Benefits things like health care or retirement? Of

Laury  9:59  
course So, of course, a lot of these data center companies, they're not just, you know, there are several companies, there are actually real companies that offer real career paths. Right? Not only they give you a pretty good salary at the beginning, they also offer you health care, you know, vacation plans, you know, maternity and paternity leave, you know, for 401 K, which is important in some of them even offering you a stock's right, they offer your sign on bonuses, and also start at a reduced price if you want to, you know, contribute in the company stock options. And also you have a good career path. The one thing I really liked about working at data center is the fact that you have a pretty, you have a pretty clear career path ahead of you, you know, where you're going, you know, you just need to work hard enough, and put in, you know, be dedicated to learning because working in data center is an ongoing learning experience. You know, as long as you work hard, and you're dedicated to learning, you will definitely grow up that ladder pretty fast.

Peter Kazarinoff  11:04  
Could you describe a little bit about maybe the first couple rungs on the ladder? When you start out after Community College? Where would you go from there?

Laury  11:15  
Yes, of course, I'm taking I like to gain experience, you know, example of myself, I. So I started out as a junior datacenter facility engineer, or operations engineer. And then after a year, I was promoted to a senior engineer, you know, just by my hard work and dedication. And then I think, two years from there, I was a lead, a lead facility engineer, where I was, you know, manage, taking care of my own buildings at the time, you know, being able to train new people coming in, and all that stuff. And then if I had stayed with my old company, now, I would have been working my way to like a more management role, you know, a management role. But I decided to switch my career from operations from doing a data center operation or critical facility engineer to now a controls engineer, which is still in a data center. It's just a different path. Yeah. And then as a senior now, I'm a senior control engineer, which means I'm still growing and I still have the ability to grow, even in my new career path.

Peter Kazarinoff  12:15  
And do you work an hourly shift type schedule? Or do you have a nine to five kind of schedule?

Laury  12:22  
So in a data center industry is usually an hourly shift? Schedule, because we are 24/7, especially in data center, engineering, facilities engineering, we are 24/7 operation. So we work on a shift schedule, and it's like 24/7, some people work at night, some people work in the evening and others work during the day. So And usually, we try to give the management tried to give, you know, allocate schedule based on people's availability. Yeah. So I think it's great to because I'm so sorry. So I think it's great, because when I started working in a data center, I was going to school full time, and I was working full time. So my school, I was going to school during night, and I was working during the day. So that allowed me to be able to juggle the two at the time, being able to go to work full time and still go to school. And I did that for two years until I graduated with my associates degree. So I think that's a great opportunity to for somebody who has a little bit of a technical background, and is able to get that job or still want to pursue education, they can do that as well.

Peter Kazarinoff  13:30  
Yeah. So let's shift gears then and talk a little bit about how you got to where you are now, you were just talking about going to community college. Can you talk a little bit about how did you find the community college and the program that you are going into?

Laury  13:50  
Oh, yes, that's a great question. Um, so like I said, earlier, I come from Africa. So when I came here, I wanted to continue my studies in engineering. I already had a bachelor in physics. But I just didn't know how I was going to use that here. And do you want United States and at the time, I also didn't know English. So I was enrolled at a community college and taking English, ESL classes, English as a second language. And while I was working there, I was also working as a security officer for one of these data center. And that's how I got I learned about division. I didn't know anything about them. And then as as I was working as there is a security officer for data center, I got pretty familiar with I mean, I got curious, I got curious about what the data center was. And I knew that there was people called engineer on staff but so I started asking them question, what do you do? What can I do? How can I do this? How can I do this? So they were like, oh, yeah, you can join. You can you know, maybe learn some few skill gets do an apprenticeship. program and then get some hot, you know, hot skill that you can, you know, apply here. But not far after that I was on Facebook, I saw an ad for Northern Virginia Community College, and they were promoting their new Data Center Operation program. So I was like, Oh, yes, this is what I need to do. So that's how I, I went, I was already at NOVA, but I was doing something else. I was just doing English. So I went back to Nova and asked more questions about it. And I decided to enroll in the program. I think I was a second promotion. Yes, he was pretty new at the time. So I decided to enroll in the program. And that's how I got into it. And

Peter Kazarinoff  15:42  
you mentioned that while you were at community college, you actually got a job even before you graduated, how did that happen?

Laury  15:50  
Yes, sir. Oh, like I said earlier, the demand is pretty, pretty high, two months after I enrolled in the program. So the thing, the good thing about doing the data center program at Northern Virginia Community College, is that not only they have, you know, not only they give you like a pretty good understanding of what a data center is, and you know how to work in a data center, that gives you pretty good experience, you know, there also connects you with industry partners. So we have pores, you have days where we can go into data centers, we can actually meet people, we do a lot of networking. So during one of those networking events with digital reality, I met people that actually were pretty interested in me and, you know, asked me to actually apply with them. And that's how I was able to secure a job with digital reality, only after two months of joining the data center program. So pretty much as I learned on, on the job side, while I was still learning at school, that's pretty much what happened with me.

Peter Kazarinoff  16:56  
So Laury, you mentioned you started taking ESL classes at the community college, and then you moved on to this more technical program, what was the hardest part of school for you?

Laury  17:08  
I think, um, the hardest part of cool for me was having to handle being full time at school and full time at work. Because I was taking night classes and I was working in the morning, I ended up having four hours of sleep for almost two years, you know, because I really wanted to get that the my, my degree done, I really wanted to have to get get out of it pretty fast. So I can focus more on work. So I was taking more classes than necessary. But it was really hard to be able to be full time both in you know, in both ways. And another thing was also the fact that at the note at NOVA, they do have a small data center replica that they use to train us on how to do some technical staff technical things in a data center. And what they had the equipment they had were pretty much different from what I had at my job during the time. So I'm learning something at school, which is not necessarily different, it's the same, it's pretty much the same thing. But it's pretty much the same procedure, but I applied differently on two different types of equipment. So I had to learn that one at school and then learn this part at work and understand that okay, this is for work. And this is what go this is totally different. So I will say like, you know, time and also just making lino at outcompeted like how I don't know how to say that in English. Like just dividing my brain to understanding separate both of them, like differentiate school and work at the time was was the challenge

Peter Kazarinoff  18:48  
as well. That sounds incredibly busy working full time and going to school to school full time. And then doing that for a year and a half. Yeah, that's pretty, pretty amazing. All of that hard work. So how did your life change? What was different when you went from working in security to working in a technical job on the inside of the data center?

Laury  19:14  
Oh, wow, there was a big change, there was a big change. Especially in my professional life. The big change was the fact that I was I receive a lot more exposure, I receive a lot more exposure not only in my company, but also in the data center industry as a whole. You know, if you if you're familiar with data centers with the data center industry, you will know that we do not have a lot of minorities in the data center industry. So me being one of the first woman to actually attend the program at Nova and actually graduate for me. I receive a lot of exposure. A lot of people were like, Oh, wow, that's really great that you're doing it I receive a lot of encouragement had a lot of mentors to other way, you know, people that I didn't know, I knew nothing about them. And then they just reached out to me and they wanted to mentor me, and they wanted to talk to me and to help me grow in my career. And I did a lot of a lot more. And I also, I also noticed that the data center industry is not just about data center, it's also about serving the community. So I got involved with a lot of volunteer work, you know, serving the community during the holiday seasons, and also outside of the holiday season, you know, doing backpacking for school, when school is about to start, you know, packaging back and all that with my data center industry community, you know, we were not only just focusing on the technical side of it, and keeping the internet alive, we also were working towards, you know, keeping our community happy, making sure that we are bringing more people into the industry, making sure that we're putting ourselves out there and passing on the message that, okay, working in a data center is not just a job, it's actually a career that you can do. So my life changing that way, like I became a lot more active with, you know, with activities, not just in my personal life, but also with the community and, and also my career as well. And

Peter Kazarinoff  21:16  
Lori, you went to community college, and while you were there, you worked in the data center, and then you slowly grew your career. And now you're teaching sometimes at the community college. Can you talk a little bit about that journey? Why did you decide to come back and teach?

Laury  21:32  
Okay? Yes, that's a great question. The reason why I decided to come back and change is because I always believe in giving back, giving back to the community, the data center industry has done a lot for me, going to school at NOVA Community College, I paid on the one semester of all my time there, the rest of them was, I was awarded scholarships, by a lot of data center, you know, organizations. And that was one of the reason why I also inserted myself in community work and volunteering and all those things. And I feel like for me, and also, another thing is, I felt the need to bring more minorities, and you know, women in datacenter, engineering. And for me, my way of doing that was to be able to change because teaching is not just holding a class, it's also holding someone's hand while they're going for their first interview, helping them writing their resume prepping them for this and that giving them tips, you know, and that was my way. So changing. For me, it's not just standing in front of the class and giving a lecture, it's actually looking at my students and seeing them progress throughout the years. You know, I have a lot of people that I didn't necessarily change, but our that I was able to help during their, you know, their journey into joining this industry. And today, when I look at them, I'm really proud of where they started and where they are now. And my goal is just to continue to bring on more minorities in the data center industry and help people, whoever that is to just go from nothing like I was to actually something to building a career into that into that industry, knowing going from doing nothing or knowing nothing to actually having a career and being a leader or manager or whatever. And tomorrow, five or 10 years from now, I'll be really happy to know that I was part of their story, just like other people were proud of my stories as well.

Peter Kazarinoff  23:39  
Laurie, that's really inspiring, that you want to come back, and that you want to help mentor other folks so that they can get into the industry just like you did. What would you sort of say to other co workers, to encourage them to work more with Community and Technical College's finding faculty for these kinds of technical areas can be difficult. And we really want to make sure that we've got experts just like you that come back and work in the classroom. What would you say to folks who work in the data center industry, about teaching at community colleges? Um,

Laury  24:17  
I would just I think I would just encourage them. We are currently I think we're currently working to expand the data center program with Northern Virginia College. I'm actually working part of that. I'm also I'm actually part of that project to expand the data center program on a national level or more of a national level so that it's not just, you know, it's not just ending here in Northern Virginia, but you can have in Chicago or Dallas or Texas anywhere around the United States. And we are actually looking for more people that are willing, you know, to get trained to change in their in community colleges, you know, church data centers and give diff you No, maybe give their own way. I mean, your own did their own understanding of what your data center is to more people and also support and mentor those students, you know, from the school, from the classes to the industry. So we actually looking for more people to do that. So the only thing I can say to my coworkers or other people in the industry is to join in, you know, we're still looking for people, the industry is growing. And there's an there's a lot of people, there are a lot of people out there that do not know about the industry. So we're still putting out the word out there to bring on more people. And, and also give anybody give, give everybody an opportunity, give everybody an opportunity to work in a data center. Yeah.

Peter Kazarinoff  25:44  
So Laurie, what advice would you give current students or people who want to transition careers and work in your industry,

Laury  25:54  
I will say, I will say go for it. I will say go for it. I love working in a data center. Working in data center has done tremendous things in my life. And I know right now, I'm talking about data center engineering, I'm talking about electrical, mechanical, but it doesn't just stop at that. It doesn't just stop at that data centers have more career path, than just engineering, we have HR, we have marketing we have, you know, everything that you can think of, it's a whole industry, you know, we have sales engineer, we have all those things. So to anybody who wants to join the into the industry, I will just say, go for it, whatever it is that you like doing, just do your research, and find your sweet spot and follow it. Because this is why the world is going we're all going towards the cloud. So let's all go towards it.

Peter Kazarinoff  26:47  
So Lloyd, kind of to wrap up, do you have a final call to action for anybody listening to this podcast? What's maybe a next step somebody could take?

Laury  26:59  
Okay, um, a final call to action will probably be for the women out there that are maybe apprehensive to join, you know, stems field, or technical careers, I just want to say, you know, I'm doing it, you know, I know you can too. I know, sometimes it can be intimidating. But you know, I feel like, you just have to put it in your head that you can do anything. And also put your mouth your mind to it, and you will do it. And we actually look we are looking for you. We want you to join the industry, we need more women, we need more diversity, we need more of those. And then if you need anything or if you want to join the data center program, and you are in the Virginia, Washington, DC area, you can always come to Nova Northern Virginia Community College, we do have a data center program there. And you know, they will lead you they will tell you what to do, they will give you resources and they will connect you to industry partner, and you will be able to join the industry. Yeah. So that's what I say.

Peter Kazarinoff  28:13  
Well, Lori, thank you so much for sharing your story and your passion about your work and bringing more women and more, more different voices into the data center industry. I'm just really touched with both your passion for this, and how you want to reach out to all of these different people so they can share in that success. So thank you so much for being on talking technicians.

Laury  28:43  
Thank you so much for letting me share my story. All

Peter Kazarinoff  28:47  
right, please keep in touch.

Laury  28:49  
Yeah, I will.

Peter Kazarinoff  28:55  
Talking Technicians is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program. Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation. Join the conversation: If you are a working technician, or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org. We're always looking out for great guests to share more stories with you.