Project Osmium – West Des Moines (Central US)

Project Osmium – West Des Moines (Central US) is Microsoft's data center in West Des Moines, IA. It is already open and running, and it will be a size the company has not shared. It is set to open around 2016.

This data center is already open, so most of the building work is done. Keeping it running takes about 0 full-time workers — data-center techs plus electricians and cooling crews who keep the power and cooling on day and night. Many of them helped build it.

Skilled-trade jobs on data centers are some of the best-paying work you can get without a four-year degree. With overtime, experienced electricians and pipefitters often make over $100,000 a year, and the work comes with health care and a pension through the union.

West Des Moines is part of a bigger building boom in Iowa, and workers drive in from all over the area. It is the same across the country: builders cannot find enough skilled workers. The U.S. needs about 140,000 more trade workers by 2030 to build all the data centers, and most builders say hiring is their hardest problem. Microsoft's president has called the shortage of electricians the biggest thing slowing data centers down.

Jobs like this one are why the local trade halls are busy. The work goes through local unions and contractors, and you start through a Iowa apprenticeship. The trade pages for Iowa show you how. Sources: a national survey of data-center building plans, plus U.S. jobs and pay data.