In last week’s post I reviewed the skills Google suggests Data Center Technicians have before they apply for one of their open roles. This post reviews Google’s Data Center Technician interview guide (which you can read here) so those with an upcoming interview can hopefully succeed and get an offer. As a Data Center Technician III at Google who interviewed candidates I’m happy this guide is available. Now I have something to give those reaching out to me on LinkedIn asking for interview advice.

Google’s Data Center Technician Interview Guide: Overview

Per the website Google designs their interview with two principles:

• Structured interviewing: Every candidate is assessed using clear rubrics. We use those rubrics for all folks being considered for that role, so that everyone is evaluated from the same perspective, allowing their distinctiveness to emerge.
• Open-ended questions: We ask open-ended questions to learn how you solve problems. We want to understand how your mind works, how you interact with a team, and what your strengths are.

What is is rubric? According to Indeed: “An interview rubric, also referred to as a hiring scorecard or scoring sheet, serves as a rating tool to evaluate job-relevant competencies during an interview.”

Google’s Data Center Technician Interview Guide: Expectations

Google explains in their interview guide that candidates will have multiple interviews. The recruiter will give the exact number and schedule.

As for the type of questions, the guide explains they are open-ended. Meaning there aren’t any multiple-choice questions. This way the interviewers can learn how candidates approach and solve problems. Interviewers, like myself, can’t learn that from a multiple-choice question.

So what type of questions do candidates have to answer? This is what so many people want to know when they reach out to me on LinkedIn or ask on my YouTube channel. Google lays it out:

• Role-related knowledge (RRK): these questions will relate to the role and your past experiences. Be ready to discuss key role knowledge and industry expertise.
• Problem solving: interviewers will be evaluating your problem-solving and critical thinking skills. They want to see how you strategically think through scenarios.
• Leadership: for individual contributor roles, interviewers will look for leadership qualities that demonstrate your potential to grow into future roles. Questions will focus on your ability to get things done, work collaboratively, and strive for self-development.

These guidelines are pretty self-explanatory. Candidates should be ready to answer questions related to the Data Center Technician role using their past IT experience. They need to showcase good problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Finally, candidates should demonstrate their leadership qualities from their previous and/or current roles as this displays potential to grow into future roles.

Interview Preparation

This section is quite long because this is vital to one having a successful interview. After reading the section I do agree with the preparation suggestions:

• Showcase your strategic thinking
• Listen carefully and clarify as needed
• Demonstrate how you navigate complexity and ambiguity
• Share how you work with people and teams
• Think about your leadership style
• Let us know about any accommodations you need

Some candidates may be strong in these already. If one isn’t, then I highly recommend becoming proficient before the interview. Those individuals can consider participating in a mock interview with a friend or family member. Or they can pay for a mock interview. The latter may be better as those companies do provide actionable feedback and will give their clients the truth about their interview skills.

I also suggest candidate write down answers to the above topics. If you can’t write down how you work with people and teams, or how you navigate ambiguous tasks then probably won’t explain those well during the interview.

Look at the interview as an audition. You must practice over and over and over so you will have the best audition possible. If you don’t, then someone else will get the role.

Behavior Interviews

I’m glad Google’s Data Center Technician interview guide covers behavior interviews because I think too many candidates focus on the technical interviews too much. Thus, they are unprepared when it comes to behavioral questions.

These are important because that’s how interviewers learn “how you’ve handled a specific challenge in the past to assess if you’ll be a good match for the role.”

There’s more I want to say, but I don’t want to overstep any boundaries placed by my employer so I suggest individuals spend a considerable amount of time reading through that section on the guide. Then put into practice the STAR method the guide describes:

• Situation: Describe the situation you were in or the task you needed to accomplish
• Task: Explain the goal you were working toward
• Activity: Detail the specific steps you took and the role(s) you played
• Result: Describe your accomplishments and the overall outcome

Use The Provided Resources

I want to end this post to tell candidates to use the provided resources at the end of the guide. Especially if one has an upcoming interview.

• Connect with a Googler

If someone has more questions about the role to see if it will be a good fit for them then ask your recruiter to connect with a Googler. Candidates can also ask to have a mock interview with a Googler. I’ve done both of these with candidates. And one of those candidates now works at Google! (I’m not taking full credit for that because that person had to pass the interview, but I did help that person focus on their strengths and provide tips on how to calm their nerves.)

• Leverage AI

It’s fine to use Gemini to prepare for an interview. You can even have a mock interview with the LLM. However, do not use it during the interview! That’s a big no-no and you can (and probably will) get disqualified from the role.

• Interview Warmup Tool to Practice Answering Interview Questions

I learned about this tool some time back, but forgot about it until now. Go try it out!

• Learn more about Google and the Data Center Position

There are plenty of links on the guide to get more information so please visit them.

Good luck!

One of the top questions I received on LinkedIn and my YouTube channel are the skills one needs to work as a Data Center Technician at Google (or another company). Until recently I would point those individuals to read this blog post I wrote some time back. Why did I change from pointing people to my website? Not because the information is outdated, but that Google released an official website detailing all the skills needed for the role. In this point I want to review the Data Center Technician skills needed at Google.

Author’s Note: Although this website is geared toward roles at Google, the skills listed are pretty universal and apply to Data Center Technician roles at other employers.

Data Center Technician Skills Overview

There are three category of skills one needs to become a Data Center Technician at Google:

• Infrastructure and hardware
• Networking and connectivity
• Problem solving and analytical skills

Let’s review those in more detail.

Infrastructure and Hardware

According to the website, anyone interested in gaining the Data Center Technician skills to pass the interviews need to know the following:

• Applied data security

This means having the knowledge of how to handle a server to maintain data security. Thus, one should understand where data lives (such as a hard drive) and how to properly handle data so that person doesn’t compromise it and cause an incident.

• Data center hardware architecture

I’m glad Google points out this skill because there are plenty of individuals working in IT that don’t understand the type of hardware within a data center. They are used to office hardware, which is totally different. A person could learn this by watching videos on YouTube and doing research online. However, have physical experience is best.

• Data center infrastructure

The website suggest interested candidates know the network, cooling, and power works in a data center. Again, one can learn about this using YouTube. There are plenty of videos there about how a network, cooling structures, and power works in a data center.

• Data center operating systems

Candidates need to know how operating systems work when it comes to the boot process and how to troubleshoot issues. Which operating system do people need to know? Linux. It runs a majority of the servers powering the Internet today. However, if people only know Windows I suggest they learn how to use Linux.

• Machine equipment and components

Last, but not least, individuals need to know the types of hardware used in servers, how they interact with each other, and how to troubleshoot various types of issues. I always tell people this when they ask about a particular skill-set to study. If you don’t know your computer hardware and troubleshooting steps, you’re not going to get the job.

Networking and Connectivity

Now let’s review the suggested computer network skills:

• Network equipment and components

People need to know about the various types of network equipment commonly found in data centers. Good examples are fiber optic cabling, switches, routers, and optic transceivers to name a few. Wikipedia and YouTube are great resources to learn if someone doesn’t have experience.

• Data center network architecture

This skill can get very complex fast. Basically, the type of network within a data center is similar to one used in a home or office, but on a larger scale. Candidates going for a L1 or L2 Data Center Technician role need to know the basics about data center network architecture. However. those going for more senior roles need to know quite a bit.

• Computer networking

I suggest individuals know the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model and the common Internet protocols (such as TCP/IP, UDP, and DNS).

Problem Solving and Analytical Skills

The last Data Center Technician skills to learn is how to properly troubleshoot problems when they arise, be it on a server or within the network. They also need to understand where to find the information containing the error and other information so they can properly troubleshoot.

As a L3 Data Center Technician at Google this is what I do everyday. If I’m not troubleshooting a network link or a machine, I’m finding information about the failures so I can do more research.

Frankly, if one doesn’t have good problem-solving skills then passing the interview is going to be near impossible.

How Can One Gain These Skills?

I highly suggest those wanting to get one of Data Center Technician roles at Google to take and pass the Google IT Support Certificate. I took it myself just to see how it was because I used to suggest individuals get the CompTIA A+ certification. Read this blog post for my thoughts about the certificate.