I don't know why im sitting here in the NOC, late in my night shift @ 4:20 in the morning, watching a video about someone working nightshift in the NOC.....
Nope, it's not. Most of the time, if you do installation, is all about stress :D this is why I actually left it and went to BMW to work in the assembly line. :)
Thats because this isnt an IT job at all. This is basically a facilities manager role, where the facility being managed happens to be a data centre. There is no programming whatsoever involved. IT skills are not needed in this role, however due to the environment, it is a major benefit but the most important skills you need is knowledge of the critical infrastructure that makes up the data centre. I.E Generators, UPS, Static/Auto transfer switches, Power distribution, HVAC, BMS, Servers as well as the procedures involved to keep these things running properly.
Yeah the last one at the end, a really strong, determinate one. Already got it in muscle memory to do with one hand whenever I'm getting up from my seat.
maxitrillion I do have to say one thing though. A lot of the things this guy is “checking” can be remotely monitored. Honestly I would rather have the building maintenance team check a lot of these things. Power,air conditioning are not a NOC job and really shouldn’t be.. I have a feeling this guy takes it upon himself to check these things.
basically, the job itself is but another 24/7 shift model, sitting there and monitoring things. there's a slight difference, though: as soon as something goes wrong, you're supposed to work at 130%+ mental capacity, know every single piece of equipment involved (or, preferrably, your whole data center's worth of hardware off the top of your head), and solve the problem by yesterday without taking down the server. the customer will most probably be on the phone with you _all the time_ , rambling on, while you try to figure out wtf actually happened and how to fix it. ("enjoyed" that kind of business mid-90s/early 2k)
I work at a data center as a NOC tech and work 12 hour days (3 day 1 week & 4 the next). I had 0 experience in the IT field and no degree. I primarily help clients through a ticketing system and some of the most common work I do is run cables and test them. I make 20 dollars per hour in the position in the midwest. All you have to do is apply to the job and show off your personality! There is a lot of turn over in this entry level position! Hope this helps someone
I worked as a NOC Engineer for years. Its a great entry level position where you learn a ton in a lot of different areas. Now years later, I am working as a Sr. Network Engineer. Before doing the network engineer route I did the Linux route and worked as a Linux Systems Administrator, but I would have not gotten either of those jobs without the experience, training, and knowledge I built working as a NOC Engineer.
I started as a lonely tech support , for dial up internet . before moving up to NOC . now Iam a senior Linux infrastructure engineer . no way would I imagined where I am now.
I think things will be changing for network engineers, but mainly because of SD-WAN, automation, and cloud integration, so it will just be something new for the engineers to learn or get left behind, I don't think network engineers will be going away though. No matter which direction the market shifts, someone still needs to make sure the packets get from A to Z and securely.
I am in a similar role working in healthcare. We are a much smaller scale (datacenter-wise), we have datacenters in several major hospitals as well as a couple colos that host our servers (datacenters like in this video). I work alongside our network engineers as well as our Windows and Linux sysadmins, but my responsibility is monitoring these locations as well as being the ticket jockey... and all the other random crap that gets tacked on every day. The amount of knowledge I gain in a 12 hour work shift is absolutely unreal. If anyone is watching this video, this is a fantastic position to look for after helpdesk. I am working on moving into a windows systems engineer position next. Fingers crossed it happens in the next year!
I know that this video is 5 years old, however, just watching this video makes me want to get back into IT after more than a decade. This is a great video.
Time: 6am ~ Raf: Morning Denis. Had a good night? Akward pause. Denis: Have a good night. Raf: I will thank you. (love that interaction lol, clearly Denis hasn't fully woken up yet)
This video series actually inspired me to pursue a career as a data center technician. Now I'm a nightshift NOC engineer, thanks for the videos and greetings from Databank US!
Raf seems like a good guy. It was cool to see them bringing a physical terminal over to the server to open an SSH shell, it's like what you see in the hacker movies.
@@Scaramouche122 Maybe. I mean, when you’re working somewhere as sensitive as an enterprise data centre, you’ll often find the security procedures take a _better safe than sorry_ approach.
@@Oliver_Saer exacly, there are Standard Operating Procedure that we strictly need to follow for each activity that we do.. It usually mentioned in the contract paper before you sign it..
This video was pretty straight forward. I like Raf; He was very professional, seemed laid back yet experienced, and his explanations of his duties were clear cut. I really like his explanation of the cooling systems in depth. It made me more curious of the roles of a NOC Engineer and the part they play at a data center.
I am a student of Telecom engineering and studying in Last semester and it feels so great that after the graduation may be I will be doing the same stuff... So happy for those days to come... a great video it was...
NOC is the most boring job until some equipment drops or an outage occurs . most times the customer vendor does all the work but an occasional reboot or remote hands occurs
@@trustthe_process4371 that is true but i think you can your unstressed time to learn more things. Today i´m working as IT Support and Network Administrator because i spent my unstressed time learning what i really like to do. After worked as NOC Engineer for 5 years.
@@trustthe_process4371 that actually depends what exactly are you monitoring (about the boring part), but I agree. I used the "boring" time for programming.
You're right. I did the job for a year then quit before i lost my mind. 12 hour night shift is tedious although i did use the time to study for my lpi linux exam
I just accepted an overnight NOC position, my first IT job. I hate working overnight shifts, however, I had to take that opportunity since that is my first IT job. This video gave me a good insight in to what that position might look like. Thanks a lot!!!
@Deadman no, i only have an Associates Degree and a CCNA. I believe it is the CCNA that brought their attention. I personally could not even believe they NEVER ASKED me anything about my CCNA skills ! Unbelievable , right ! I was only interviewed for soft skills. I am LUCKY !!
@@kalMHe omg that is freaking awesome. I too have a degree, zero IT experience, and will be taking my CCNA the second week of December. Thank you for sharing your story, this really gets me excited about my prospects.
@@Ponce417 im not sure if this helps but cisco has some form of lab/academy online that u can play around with since buying all these equipments to practice on is definitely not feasible
Hi Matt, since a couple of months have passed, how are you doing in that first IT job? Has it been working out, or did it turn out not to be your cup of tea? Interested in your experience 🙂
Same bro and congrats. This is my first IT job and an overnight NOC technician as well. I've 2 more semesters left for my Associate degree and I just started studying the CCNA. So I've no networking or IT experience. Soft skills and those type of customer service questions definitely did help me. I still can't believe I got accepted because there were 25+ applicants for that job😂
It's also the only way to accomplish the fix without side loading some kind of livecd and editing the disk manually - at this low of a level you can't do much fanciness.
@@Locane256 well I'm not sure why KVM isn't a option in this case. You don't need to give your password to access a KVM solution, quite the opposite you're given one. Or you can use the server's management unit, if you want to go properly low level. Which can(read should) be connected to private network too. ESXI hypervisor isn't exactly low level and even if you locked it on a private unconnected interface there isn't a reason for the support to enter it. Unless you're unqualified to do it yourself in which case you shouldn't play with such toys and you need more then support anyway. There are many solutions at all levels that don't involve asking users for their password. Also asking users for their passwords is a legal liability.
@@aanlran that's exactly what I'm having a problem with. if you've asked for a password and you're given one then you get involved, which means you are taking responsibility. You can be sued exactly because you asked for the password. The way not to be sued is not to know the password and not to access the client's property you're hosting. The DC's I've worked with just connect some management console(i.e. KVM with network storage library for boot alternatives ) to wherever interfaces you requested. Usually the request is done without human involvement and you get a notification back in a given time frame. Sometimes with a waiting queue with the bigger DCs. You can't sue them for interacting with your hardware, because they only do what you requested and they don't access your software at all.
Thomas Prescott I didn’t see which host he plugged into, but some of those looked quite old. Maple the lights out firmware is too old for modern browsers / java.
I left this job YEARS ago... Watching this video gives me anxiety. The idea of staring at those screens again, wondering off into the abyss makes me anxious to close the video...
@Fortnite World Cup DC noise was relaxing for me. We just had too many clients and too little staff (This was ISP NOC side)and that drove me out of Networking in South Africa. You work as a slave here, doing the job of 5 people generally. We were always run at 100% capacity and never had time off for even taking a piss. Moved to AI/programming and never looked back. Software engineering is 10 times easier than proper in depth networking.
Same, I got into this field for the money but left after 3 years because of the stress. Been considering getting back in but really have to make sure I find the right position. High stress support positions are just not worth the money, especially if you are a 24/7 person without a rotation or guaranteed time off.
advice from a seasoned noc eng turned sr. sys-admin: you have the datacenter skills, go apply them for a company that uses these colo's. Visit the dc for installs, learn the system side. leave the dc grunt work to the next new guy :) I visit colo's all over the world just to upgrade our platform. Rely on remote hands as little as possible.
It is the first "a day in the life of" where people actually work instead of eating free food 50% of the time and doing, endless outside walks for the rest of it
I just passed my CCNA, im apllying for jobs, some of them are NOC engineer jobs. Looks like quite a good job, it is not very deskbound and can walk aroung which i prefer
Oh man. You should see our jobs. I work in school IT support. The couple weeks before school starts and about a month and a half after school starts is the most insane time for us. There are days where I barely have time to sit at my desk because there's always something going on. The teacher in room 5 doesn't understand how to push the power button. Gotta go over to the classroom and show her what button to press. Oh the teacher in room 50 on the opposite side of campus can't print, gotta walk all the way over there. Oh the secretary doesn't understand how to turn on her monitor, gotta walk to the front office and and show her how to do it for the 10th time. But half way there, you get stopped by a teacher who tells you there's a brand new teacher who doesn't have any technology setup and she really needs help. Its absolute insanity Then after that, it does slow down dramatically for a few months. It occasionally picks up here and there.
Ah the NOC life. I remember those nights. You do the safety checks in the first couple hours then you sat and waited for something to happen. Great entry level position for people trying to get into IT, and imo a pretty fun job.
same here haha I watched it back in late 2019 when I had recently gotten my ccna, i didnt get my NOC job until April 2021, been there since with a focus switching more towards network engineering tasks now ( Im like a NOC engineer according to my boss lol, take care of actual device configurations more now..
@@Cris18Martinez congrats bro. I just got accepted for an overnight NOC technician and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I'd enjoy it. But my long term goal is to move from being a NOC technician to SOC analyst role by next year.
I run data centers, and this is what we have brand new hires do. Titles between companies are wildly different, but I don't think most places would consider this engineer work.
yea, plus i dont even think he ssh into esxi host, thats console. I work a network support, We dont do run throughs of equipment like this mainly monitoring tools.
Great video, Raf. Earned my second CCNA years ago and just passed my FOA CPCT and CFOT. Hours on the Sumitomo, fusing. Taking the FOA for outside plant (fiber) exam soon.
I'm a new data center security guard, this video is extremely interesting and insightful. Good job! I've needed to call NOC about 3 times for help. NOC and PSCC are my lifelines to avoid making mistakes.
How to hack a server: Expectations: " Hollywood, 1 gig of RAM will do the trick " Reality: " just call them and ask them nicely to open an SSH connection ".
these guys dont actually walk around verifying things. thats whats monitoring tools are for. realistically, he probably taking naps and having his alerting systems on full blast to wake up him up if anything.
Actually, it's harder than you think to get monitoring on the power and cooling equipment. Those systems are industrial and run very different older tech. Things like bacnet, modbus serial etc all very insecure and a total pain to connect to the monitoring systems used by todays data centres. Also the companies who make the equipment all want you to use their controllers which also have other types of insecure hard to connect to protocols. Along with buggy programming which does not report a problem correctly or just shuts down with out a way of resetting other than a site visit.
@@mjoconr Temperature probes attached to UPS can be monitored remotely. Checking generators would need to be done manually though, I've done it myself in past jobs. Now if they didn't do the walk through they'd be filming a guy at his desk all night which would be boring, lol.
I've been working for a NOC for 2 years and I'm not gonna lie, we have a ton of downtime when everything is working properly. I've been using that time to dig deeper into networking, sys admin, programming in python and DevOps. It's a great entry level job coming out of college, but don't stay too long. The turnover rate is usually pretty high and sometimes positive as well, especially for those who take the time to learn other things during those long and dreadful night shifts.
I'm a Global NOC engineer and i dont do this stuff i only do remote monitoring and config. This is a Data Center Tech role for remote hand and eyes support
Lucky to film inside a DC. I work in a DC in the UK and we get searched on the way in and out. All phones have to be locked in your locker. Retina eye scans into the datahalls etc. I love the night shifts, sometimes its flat out and you don't stop all night, and others you can catchup on a whole Netflix series !.
I work in a DC out of DTLA that used to be a Japanese Bank. Vault still exists and whatnot, Basement is a shit-pile. Job's alright though, tolerable because of the people I work with in the NOC.
I am absolutely impressed viewing these kinds of sophisticated network setups. I am currently working as a NOC Technician, I pray that one day I will have the opportunity to work in this kind of environment.
@@charlesmagno28 good question, I think their Computer Science engineer with networking and support skills, I am a Software Developer but sincerely I liked these guys night Job 😅👌
The only action to improve is that you should not take the elevator to check the chillers. Stairs should always be used to check infrastructure outside the NOC.
If there is a power outage or elevator failure you would be locked up. Until the problem is solved you would be out of service, and perhaps only you are responsible for normalizing the power grid. While this happens, other types of errors could occur, such as Generator transfer failures or the generator failure itself. So when you are alone in the building, the ideal is to go up stairs.
I used to work in a building that had a NOC in Dallas, Texas (USA). We were able to see the center through a window but were not allowed to view the actual operations. This video showed me the other side (albeit the technology you use is more sophisticated than it was in 2002). Thanks for making this video. I enjoyed it very much.
Lel?! Not only IT uses Id cards... I've forget my I'd card once as a BMW employee.. cant get to work, I had to go home and get my id. Never forget after this...
I once forgot my badge inside the MDF when i went to the restroom since it does not require you to badge out. This place required two badges, one to get in the building/elevators and one for the specific room i needed to access. I was essentially stuck on a floor waiting for someone to respond to my location for hours since i would be unable to meet them when they got there if i left the area. Not fun at 3am working a rack move....
@@victorshane4134 if you was having fingers scan, was not need it to return at home, and if you give to others your ID, you can even don't go at work :)))
I once locked myself out of the building during a rain storm... and I was the only person working in the building... and no one could come to let me back in because all the streets to the building were flooded... I had to wait outside for a few hours until the flood waters receded... oops!
@H H Location matters a lot. Here in Portland Maine there are many openings because staff is short. A Net+ certification can get you a job. Other places you'll probably need a CCNA. Not an easy cert. But the training materials are free on UA-cam and you just need to pass the test.
1st comment: Thank you for the night shift tour RAF 2nd comment: Well done, easy going on understanding how things works more or less for a Nov engineer.👍
yeah, I just realized this aswell. All computer science related jobs are either IT-Helpdesk/Sysadmin/networking/helpdesk jobs or programming. That's literally it.
As someone who does shifts (including nights) for a CP this looks fascinating and a lot better than being shouted at by someone who can't stream Netflix at 2am!
@@topkek5164 Yes but going insane in a Cyberdine alpha test data center would be scarier, so we watch this and are thankful, and let go of the past emotional baggage which that "traffic cone" caused us so long ago, wouldn't you agree?
@@PixelBoyMiner Quickly asking Dr. Google finds me a medium income of around $60k with a range of $40k-90k. I do not know how accurate that is and how that raises with experience, but that's not bad at all.
Hi Raf, Thanks for this video to show insights of a full fledged Data center. This video was really helpful for me as I am in cybersecurity career, and wanted to know how a DC looks from inside. Thank you again and keep posting such videos on different things/operations in a DC.
Reminds me of my night shift back at a large airport. Although for NOC the guys seems to be doing a lot of infrastructure/data centre/layer 1 related stuff. No switch or router config???
I don't work in a data centre like this but I do work as a network engineer in a maintenance department of a large company with large server rooms, multiple critical services and such. In my experience you rarely get to work on switch and router configs and if you do it's usually minor changes and firmware updates. If you want to actually work hands on with switches and Routers on a regular basis you might want to be in project, design or integration work rather than maintenance and operations work.
I really appreciate this inside look into what you do. I dont understand everything you talked about, but Im driven to learn more because of youtube content like this. Thanks!!!
I know many people who are techs at data centers. They love the job, kicked back and relaxed with good pay atany companies. Guys at Google and Facebook get good benefits, game lounges, stocked break rooms, all meals provides, etc.
I can tell, it's cool because you have a lot of technology to play with and that add many skills you can take with you to any tech companies out there.
I used to work overnight/NOC for trading firms in Chicago/USA. Non-stop drama, though, it paid quite well for those just beginning their IT career. A lot of valuable experience and learning opportunities; with all of the hats we were required to wear as, basically, a skeleton crew.
@@julianmorales-silva160 Drama with the work. Any job tied to global high-finance and the stock markets can be intense. You're always fighting small and large fires. IMO, it was rather exciting however. And like I alluded to earlier: it was a great learning experience.
Thanks for sharing this experience. I worked more than 5 years as NOC Engineer, you made all my experience resume as NOC Engineer on this video. On this area we learn a lot and most of times make us as open mind in different areas.
Glad to see that you can bring camera device on data centers! 🤗 Some company here in the philippines prohibit camera devices or mobile phone in enterimg Data Centers
I especially appreciated the general level of awkwardness at the changing of shifts.
that made it feel more real to me... and relatable even though I don't work in shifts... nor during the night...
Oh man, this was perfect.
It kind of made thing of Ralph and Sam from Looney Tunes.
You misspelled "genuine"
@@zapbeeblebrox1053 That comment is spot on.
I don't know why im sitting here in the NOC, late in my night shift @ 4:20 in the morning, watching a video about someone working nightshift in the NOC.....
Confirming reality haha
thats exactly what i did on nye. good fun for us
so im not the only one
Noice
Im also doing the same. Working in a night shift. NOC
First time i see a "a day in video" and it's not all about eating! Thanks !!
Nope, it's not. Most of the time, if you do installation, is all about stress :D this is why I actually left it and went to BMW to work in the assembly line. :)
also quite refreshing to see one where it is not just jump cuts and copyright free lo-fi music.
You must be referring to those bullshit Facebook and Google programmers who seem to eat all day in their free food cafe. 😉
Thats because this isnt an IT job at all. This is basically a facilities manager role, where the facility being managed happens to be a data centre. There is no programming whatsoever involved. IT skills are not needed in this role, however due to the environment, it is a major benefit but the most important skills you need is knowledge of the critical infrastructure that makes up the data centre. I.E Generators, UPS, Static/Auto transfer switches, Power distribution, HVAC, BMS, Servers as well as the procedures involved to keep these things running properly.
@@KaesOner Yes, the Techs and Facilities Engineers at my data centers don't eat at all in a 12 hour shift.... we work all night. Allllll night!
11:39 Smashing Windows + L : the mood of every IT person when done with their shift.
Yeah the last one at the end, a really strong, determinate one. Already got it in muscle memory to do with one hand whenever I'm getting up from my seat.
If you know... you know.
This is true.
I felt it in my bones :D
Love the ending lock. Especially after an extra tough day.
Im dissapointed his title isnt NOCturnal Engineer
Would be lit
The night was pretty straight-forward. I personally appreciated the level of physical security implemented around the worksite.
ya just to get in there looks to be only one door and you have to wait for some scan or something
No fingers scan, that RFID it's so easy to clone
Plus he entered the passcode in the video "secure". Asking a customer for passwords? Really?
@@SuperADI2 that's what I thought. The NOC I use has biometrics AND a PIN.
I would have preferred to see a 2FA setup but they at least had all of the rooms isolated.
Video feels like im being shown around on my first day at a new job
maxitrillion data centers feel that way every day
maxitrillion I do have to say one thing though. A lot of the things this guy is “checking” can be remotely monitored. Honestly I would rather have the building maintenance team check a lot of these things. Power,air conditioning are not a NOC job and really shouldn’t be.. I have a feeling this guy takes it upon himself to check these things.
@@Astinsan well, double-checking stuff is not a bad thing
noname I realize but what is this guy going to do if the generator is dead? Nothing. lol
@@Astinsan At least he gets some exercise :P
basically, the job itself is but another 24/7 shift model, sitting there and monitoring things. there's a slight difference, though: as soon as something goes wrong, you're supposed to work at 130%+ mental capacity, know every single piece of equipment involved (or, preferrably, your whole data center's worth of hardware off the top of your head), and solve the problem by yesterday without taking down the server. the customer will most probably be on the phone with you _all the time_ , rambling on, while you try to figure out wtf actually happened and how to fix it.
("enjoyed" that kind of business mid-90s/early 2k)
It kills when you have 1 unlucky week of only fails and things going wrong. You burnout fast
Well.. as an IT myself, i never encountered same problem.. every freaking problem will be new to me..
@@kamarulamri4172 Are you a whole IT?
@@kjsbadfkjlasbdg im networking engineer
i can't imagine the pressure in these cases omg
I work at a data center as a NOC tech and work 12 hour days (3 day 1 week & 4 the next). I had 0 experience in the IT field and no degree. I primarily help clients through a ticketing system and some of the most common work I do is run cables and test them. I make 20 dollars per hour in the position in the midwest. All you have to do is apply to the job and show off your personality! There is a lot of turn over in this entry level position! Hope this helps someone
work is worship
@@avinashsharma1470 you edited your comment but still made zero sense lmao
@@AV-iu6bd lol
Can you send me the job link of that please?
@@PicksFromTonejust search for NOC technician on indeed
People like this keep the world working. Respect to every face shown in this video.
I worked as a NOC Engineer for years. Its a great entry level position where you learn a ton in a lot of different areas. Now years later, I am working as a Sr. Network Engineer. Before doing the network engineer route I did the Linux route and worked as a Linux Systems Administrator, but I would have not gotten either of those jobs without the experience, training, and knowledge I built working as a NOC Engineer.
I started as a lonely tech support , for dial up internet . before moving up to NOC . now Iam a senior Linux infrastructure engineer . no way would I imagined where I am now.
do u think Meraki is making network engineers a thing of the past?
I think things will be changing for network engineers, but mainly because of SD-WAN, automation, and cloud integration, so it will just be something new for the engineers to learn or get left behind, I don't think network engineers will be going away though. No matter which direction the market shifts, someone still needs to make sure the packets get from A to Z and securely.
@@timgridley1299 yes it's all code now, deployment, Configuration and migration
I am in a similar role working in healthcare. We are a much smaller scale (datacenter-wise), we have datacenters in several major hospitals as well as a couple colos that host our servers (datacenters like in this video). I work alongside our network engineers as well as our Windows and Linux sysadmins, but my responsibility is monitoring these locations as well as being the ticket jockey... and all the other random crap that gets tacked on every day. The amount of knowledge I gain in a 12 hour work shift is absolutely unreal. If anyone is watching this video, this is a fantastic position to look for after helpdesk. I am working on moving into a windows systems engineer position next. Fingers crossed it happens in the next year!
I remember watching this video when it came out, right before I were going to apply for college. Now I'm a Network Engineer-- full circle.
you wasted money on a network engineer degree??????? wow just wow
We all know when the camera isnt turned theyre all watching youtube during work like myself :P
So that's how u work in UK huh?
Yep night shifts, if the cats away the mice shall play
Exactly xD. When he said he was gonna check all his emails, I thought "yeah, sure" :D
Currently on youtube on my night shift job right now lmao
yeah i nightshift i sleep to my company im a technician
I remember this call of duty mission.
More like GTA Casino Heist
We should give Raf two comments: one because we like Raf, another one for redundancy.
😂👍
rafdundancy.
I know that this video is 5 years old, however, just watching this video makes me want to get back into IT after more than a decade. This is a great video.
This looks like such a cool job. I worked help desk for a while and this looks WAY more interesting. Thanks for sharing.
oh, don't worry, it's not
-Had a good night?
-Have a good night
😅
Ahaha and it was the early morning :'D
Dennis is my spirit animal
lol
Time: 6am ~
Raf: Morning Denis. Had a good night?
Akward pause.
Denis: Have a good night.
Raf: I will thank you.
(love that interaction lol, clearly Denis hasn't fully woken up yet)
Bro looks tired af, god bless yall for workin all night to keep the net up
Things men do to provide for their family
Being the customer of these NOCs, I can appreciate all the hard working heroes that stay up all night ensuring we get to sleep 🙂
This video series actually inspired me to pursue a career as a data center technician.
Now I'm a nightshift NOC engineer, thanks for the videos and greetings from Databank US!
Poor guy he couldn't check his Facebook and UA-cam that day.
I have no idea why this turned up at the top of my feed and why I then proceeded to watch it in its entirety
The weird Office energy emanating from this video is hilarious
"Shoot!" lol
Haha yeah, was thinking about the stiff corporate environment.. Nasty stuff..
Dude signed out of his computer at 7:49 AM. Did he leave 19 minutes late, or 11 minutes early?
he does 8-8. So 11 minutes early, no shift handover or anything to the next person, just out the door..
Nice, you locked your pc the moment you left your desk regardless of no one else being in the building 😉
Raf seems like a good guy. It was cool to see them bringing a physical terminal over to the server to open an SSH shell, it's like what you see in the hacker movies.
Why tho cant you open it remotely?
@@Scaramouche122 It’s possible that they deliberately require physical access to guard against cyber attacks.
@@Oliver_Saer from their own nat? With private keys?
@@Scaramouche122 Maybe. I mean, when you’re working somewhere as sensitive as an enterprise data centre, you’ll often find the security procedures take a _better safe than sorry_ approach.
@@Oliver_Saer exacly, there are Standard Operating Procedure that we strictly need to follow for each activity that we do..
It usually mentioned in the contract paper before you sign it..
This video was pretty straight forward. I like Raf; He was very professional, seemed laid back yet experienced, and his explanations of his duties were clear cut. I really like his explanation of the cooling systems in depth. It made me more curious of the roles of a NOC Engineer and the part they play at a data center.
I like Raf's attitude, he seems like a fun guy.
I am a student of Telecom engineering and studying in Last semester and it feels so great that after the graduation may be I will be doing the same stuff... So happy for those days to come... a great video it was...
I've got a couple of certificates and got a little bit of experience and I also hope to do the same some time soon
NOC is the most boring job until some equipment drops or an outage occurs . most times the customer vendor does all the work but an occasional reboot or remote hands occurs
@@trustthe_process4371 that is true but i think you can your unstressed time to learn more things. Today i´m working as IT Support and Network Administrator because i spent my unstressed time learning what i really like to do. After worked as NOC Engineer for 5 years.
I disagree, you have a lot of free time and a computer with (hopefully) unfiltered internet access, just watch UA-cam etc.
@@trustthe_process4371 that actually depends what exactly are you monitoring (about the boring part), but I agree. I used the "boring" time for programming.
You're right. I did the job for a year then quit before i lost my mind. 12 hour night shift is tedious although i did use the time to study for my lpi linux exam
@@heliodaconceicaochirruco9400 LOL.. learn new thing? To me unstress myself just playing games and youtube..
This company better pay for their coffee, and it better be the gourmet shiet
I'm sure they are buying truck loads of the stuff for the staff xD
And it better be that Cat Shit coffee !
Pulp fiction's reference :D ahaha
@@djawedmmazari1517 its kopi luwak. a coffee bean eaten by civet cat, pooped then processed.
literally cat shiet and freaking expensive tho lol
@@Ampopoltech ahahaha well I've never heard of that, though I will check it out ahaha thanks for the info !
Wait, they didn't show him sleeping, surfing the net, or blaring the radio, which is normal night shift duties in a data center!
I just accepted an overnight NOC position, my first IT job. I hate working overnight shifts, however, I had to take that opportunity since that is my first IT job. This video gave me a good insight in to what that position might look like. Thanks a lot!!!
@Deadman no, i only have an Associates Degree and a CCNA. I believe it is the CCNA that brought their attention. I personally could not even believe they NEVER ASKED me anything about my CCNA skills ! Unbelievable , right ! I was only interviewed for soft skills. I am LUCKY !!
@@kalMHe omg that is freaking awesome. I too have a degree, zero IT experience, and will be taking my CCNA the second week of December. Thank you for sharing your story, this really gets me excited about my prospects.
@@Ponce417 im not sure if this helps but cisco has some form of lab/academy online that u can play around with since buying all these equipments to practice on is definitely not feasible
Hi Matt, since a couple of months have passed, how are you doing in that first IT job? Has it been working out, or did it turn out not to be your cup of tea? Interested in your experience 🙂
Same bro and congrats. This is my first IT job and an overnight NOC technician as well. I've 2 more semesters left for my Associate degree and I just started studying the CCNA. So I've no networking or IT experience. Soft skills and those type of customer service questions definitely did help me. I still can't believe I got accepted because there were 25+ applicants for that job😂
"I'm gonna need your passwords" the words you hear from every legitimate support..
It's also the only way to accomplish the fix without side loading some kind of livecd and editing the disk manually - at this low of a level you can't do much fanciness.
@@Locane256 well I'm not sure why KVM isn't a option in this case. You don't need to give your password to access a KVM solution, quite the opposite you're given one.
Or you can use the server's management unit, if you want to go properly low level. Which can(read should) be connected to private network too.
ESXI hypervisor isn't exactly low level and even if you locked it on a private unconnected interface there isn't a reason for the support to enter it. Unless you're unqualified to do it yourself in which case you shouldn't play with such toys and you need more then support anyway.
There are many solutions at all levels that don't involve asking users for their password. Also asking users for their passwords is a legal liability.
@@aanlran that's exactly what I'm having a problem with. if you've asked for a password and you're given one then you get involved, which means you are taking responsibility. You can be sued exactly because you asked for the password. The way not to be sued is not to know the password and not to access the client's property you're hosting.
The DC's I've worked with just connect some management console(i.e. KVM with network storage library for boot alternatives ) to wherever interfaces you requested. Usually the request is done without human involvement and you get a notification back in a given time frame. Sometimes with a waiting queue with the bigger DCs. You can't sue them for interacting with your hardware, because they only do what you requested and they don't access your software at all.
Doesn't the customer's equipment have a lights out interface? I'd think that would be important, especially if you're co-locating...
Thomas Prescott I didn’t see which host he plugged into, but some of those looked quite old. Maple the lights out firmware is too old for modern browsers / java.
As soon as he mentioned temperature, I recalled a ton of Cisco show commands.
I left this job YEARS ago... Watching this video gives me anxiety. The idea of staring at those screens again, wondering off into the abyss makes me anxious to close the video...
That was you ? Raf?
What did you do after?
@Fortnite World Cup DC noise was relaxing for me. We just had too many clients and too little staff (This was ISP NOC side)and that drove me out of Networking in South Africa. You work as a slave here, doing the job of 5 people generally. We were always run at 100% capacity and never had time off for even taking a piss. Moved to AI/programming and never looked back. Software engineering is 10 times easier than proper in depth networking.
Same, I got into this field for the money but left after 3 years because of the stress. Been considering getting back in but really have to make sure I find the right position. High stress support positions are just not worth the money, especially if you are a 24/7 person without a rotation or guaranteed time off.
advice from a seasoned noc eng turned sr. sys-admin: you have the datacenter skills, go apply them for a company that uses these colo's. Visit the dc for installs, learn the system side. leave the dc grunt work to the next new guy :) I visit colo's all over the world just to upgrade our platform. Rely on remote hands as little as possible.
It is the first "a day in the life of" where people actually work instead of eating free food 50% of the time and doing, endless outside walks for the rest of it
Absolutely relatable!🤣
I just passed my CCNA, im apllying for jobs, some of them are NOC engineer jobs. Looks like quite a good job, it is not very deskbound and can walk aroung which i prefer
Oh man. You should see our jobs. I work in school IT support. The couple weeks before school starts and about a month and a half after school starts is the most insane time for us. There are days where I barely have time to sit at my desk because there's always something going on. The teacher in room 5 doesn't understand how to push the power button. Gotta go over to the classroom and show her what button to press. Oh the teacher in room 50 on the opposite side of campus can't print, gotta walk all the way over there. Oh the secretary doesn't understand how to turn on her monitor, gotta walk to the front office and and show her how to do it for the 10th time. But half way there, you get stopped by a teacher who tells you there's a brand new teacher who doesn't have any technology setup and she really needs help. Its absolute insanity
Then after that, it does slow down dramatically for a few months. It occasionally picks up here and there.
@@JJFlores197I fell you man, I haven been there..ehehe
@@JJFlores197 Walk up IT is the best.
@@JJFlores197 wow bro IT is just like magic for the layman
And I thought operating 8 servers was fun... but this looks like an interesting job.
Ah the NOC life. I remember those nights. You do the safety checks in the first couple hours then you sat and waited for something to happen. Great entry level position for people trying to get into IT, and imo a pretty fun job.
Great video! Its facsinating to see other IT professions day to day work.
i remember watching this video about 3 years ago and now it has become LIFE life.
same here haha I watched it back in late 2019 when I had recently gotten my ccna, i didnt get my NOC job until April 2021, been there since with a focus switching more towards network engineering tasks now ( Im like a NOC engineer according to my boss lol, take care of actual device configurations more now..
@@Cris18Martinez congrats bro. I just got accepted for an overnight NOC technician and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I'd enjoy it. But my long term goal is to move from being a NOC technician to SOC analyst role by next year.
@@Stoneface_How is this going?
I run data centers, and this is what we have brand new hires do. Titles between companies are wildly different, but I don't think most places would consider this engineer work.
yea, plus i dont even think he ssh into esxi host, thats console. I work a network support, We dont do run throughs of equipment like this mainly monitoring tools.
@@remeark101 oh he enabled it? ok makes sense.
Nice! We just learned a little about Fiber and the Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) in our networking class!
Great video, Raf. Earned my second CCNA years ago and just passed my FOA CPCT and CFOT. Hours on the Sumitomo, fusing. Taking the FOA for outside plant (fiber) exam soon.
Just learned that CRC issues can be caused by reflections on the fibre cable, thanks for that!
Well it is light after all.
Nice video. Sums up my entire Datacenter experience. Shout out to all of the graveyard shift teams!!! 🤣🤣🤣
I'm a new data center security guard, this video is extremely interesting and insightful. Good job! I've needed to call NOC about 3 times for help. NOC and PSCC are my lifelines to avoid making mistakes.
How to hack a server:
Expectations: " Hollywood, 1 gig of RAM will do the trick "
Reality: " just call them and ask them nicely to open an SSH connection ".
This is the truth. People are the must vulnerable entry point
It's quite likely the SSH connection is protected by a firewall, so the client is the only one who can actually reach it when it's open.
@@Null-- The funny thing though is that a lot of hacks are done through social engineering and calling customer support etc
I shared this with my high school cybersecurity students. I love to show them real world examples of the types of careers they can pursue. Thanks!
Amazing teacher.
Legend has it that the film crew is still there, locked in the building, without a badge needed to exit.
Ahahahahah
They found the skeletons in the man trap to the evap cooling room
They were dehumidified and are now nice mummies.
Raf seems to be a cool guy, nice video, thanks for sharing.
I actually understood everything that was going on. I feel worthy!
Same just watching this as well and understanding the terms like CRC, ATS and UPS i was like wow!!
it doesnt take a degree to know that lol
Awesome video! That shift looks so peaceful and quiet. Thanks for sharing
these guys dont actually walk around verifying things. thats whats monitoring tools are for. realistically, he probably taking naps and having his alerting systems on full blast to wake up him up if anything.
My morning tasks includes opening Solarwinds to make sure there are green lights across the board. Also, it stays open throughout the day.
@@okidave What program from solarwinds?
Actually, it's harder than you think to get monitoring on the power and cooling equipment. Those systems are industrial and run very different older tech. Things like bacnet, modbus serial etc all very insecure and a total pain to connect to the monitoring systems used by todays data centres. Also the companies who make the equipment all want you to use their controllers which also have other types of insecure hard to connect to protocols. Along with buggy programming which does not report a problem correctly or just shuts down with out a way of resetting other than a site visit.
@@jessesanchez5294 Orion
@@mjoconr Temperature probes attached to UPS can be monitored remotely. Checking generators would need to be done manually though, I've done it myself in past jobs. Now if they didn't do the walk through they'd be filming a guy at his desk all night which would be boring, lol.
I've been working for a NOC for 2 years and I'm not gonna lie, we have a ton of downtime when everything is working properly. I've been using that time to dig deeper into networking, sys admin, programming in python and DevOps. It's a great entry level job coming out of college, but don't stay too long. The turnover rate is usually pretty high and sometimes positive as well, especially for those who take the time to learn other things during those long and dreadful night shifts.
Much different NOC job than the contract I'm on here in the US. Love the physical security layers, well done!
I'm a Global NOC engineer and i dont do this stuff i only do remote monitoring and config. This is a Data Center Tech role for remote hand and eyes support
So much work behind running a data center properly! People are mostly unaware of this.
Lucky to film inside a DC. I work in a DC in the UK and we get searched on the way in and out. All phones have to be locked in your locker. Retina eye scans into the datahalls etc. I love the night shifts, sometimes its flat out and you don't stop all night, and others you can catchup on a whole Netflix series !.
I work in a DC out of DTLA that used to be a Japanese Bank. Vault still exists and whatnot, Basement is a shit-pile. Job's alright though, tolerable because of the people I work with in the NOC.
@@BlizzetaNet nakatomi plaza!?!
@@GuthanSlayer like I care now... Some telecom building 530 west 6th st. 90014.
I no longer work at that shithole.
I used to work security desk for Visa and eBay NOCs , don’t know who was more bored overnight us or them
Nice video! Pretty nice explanation for people who do not understand or even fathom what a DC is like.
The last key he smashed before finnishing his -day- night, was truly satisfactory.
I am absolutely impressed viewing these kinds of sophisticated network setups. I am currently working as a NOC Technician, I pray that one day I will have the opportunity to work in this kind of environment.
is there an y course you have taken for that?
@@charlesmagno28 good question, I think their Computer Science engineer with networking and support skills, I am a Software Developer but sincerely I liked these guys night Job 😅👌
The only action to improve is that you should not take the elevator to check the chillers. Stairs should always be used to check infrastructure outside the NOC.
why?
If there is a power outage or elevator failure you would be locked up. Until the problem is solved you would be out of service, and perhaps only you are responsible for normalizing the power grid. While this happens, other types of errors could occur, such as Generator transfer failures or the generator failure itself. So when you are alone in the building, the ideal is to go up stairs.
@@facundoayala9098 Thats fair
@@facundoayala9098 Absolutely correct.
I was DataCenter engineer for 2 years. It was interesting work. I like to work at DC, i like hardware and the noise of fans
Very knowledgeable guy and so down to earth. 2 Thumbs up.
I used to work in a building that had a NOC in Dallas, Texas (USA). We were able to see the center through a window but were not allowed to view the actual operations. This video showed me the other side (albeit the technology you use is more sophisticated than it was in 2002). Thanks for making this video. I enjoyed it very much.
the joy of nights and all that comes with it. The best thing is the silence.
imagine forgetting your ID and you can't go anywhere lol
Lel?! Not only IT uses Id cards... I've forget my I'd card once as a BMW employee.. cant get to work, I had to go home and get my id. Never forget after this...
I once forgot my badge inside the MDF when i went to the restroom since it does not require you to badge out. This place required two badges, one to get in the building/elevators and one for the specific room i needed to access. I was essentially stuck on a floor waiting for someone to respond to my location for hours since i would be unable to meet them when they got there if i left the area. Not fun at 3am working a rack move....
@@victorshane4134 if you was having fingers scan, was not need it to return at home, and if you give to others your ID, you can even don't go at work :)))
I once locked myself out of the building during a rain storm... and I was the only person working in the building... and no one could come to let me back in because all the streets to the building were flooded... I had to wait outside for a few hours until the flood waters receded... oops!
Companies provide temporary ID if you forget yours at home
This video inspired me a lot to work in a NOC where I work today. :)
I watch this video again, and again, and again whenever I feel unmotivated when studying. Thank you very much guys.
Raf was so patient whilst the tour. Appreciate how nice he was being in showing us around the facility :)
As an IT infrastructure project manager with 27 years under the belt it brings back memories!
@H H Location matters a lot. Here in Portland Maine there are many openings because staff is short. A Net+ certification can get you a job. Other places you'll probably need a CCNA. Not an easy cert. But the training materials are free on UA-cam and you just need to pass the test.
@@mitchelllombard7856 man thanks a lot for the advice appreciate ppl like u helping us out
I get some people actually enjoy working in the DC but I’m really glad I moved beyond it.
What are you doing now?
Here is a comment for you Raf. Great job.
what a great NOC Attitude i found in you , Raf, thanks for making this video.
1st comment: Thank you for the night shift tour RAF 2nd comment: Well done, easy going on understanding how things works more or less for a Nov engineer.👍
That's the face of someone who truly hates his job
I think most IT guys look like that.
They just hate their life in general I think. Nothing to do with the job.
Awesome video. That guy did an awesome job explaining things. Very cool
Lol even at this level you still have to do help desk stuff
always!
yeah, I just realized this aswell. All computer science related jobs are either IT-Helpdesk/Sysadmin/networking/helpdesk jobs or programming.
That's literally it.
wasn't common help desk stuff tho
@@LemonVRC The only computer science related job in that list was programming
You forgot the part where you sit there and do nothing for hours on end.
Lol
Or get every IT departments work to do hrs on end! Wannna trade?
Retired after 38 years working in IT and I miss it and don’t miss it 😊
As someone who does shifts (including nights) for a CP this looks fascinating and a lot better than being shouted at by someone who can't stream Netflix at 2am!
This is the cloud 😊
It's ALL of the above! 🙂
...and so much more
i hate clouds
This is America
@@alexl5682 You better get used to it dude.
This brings back memories and not good ones.
Is it a bad job to have or something?
@@ghostl337 Amazing paycheck but a traffic cone in the ass when there is a problem in the network and you have to find and fix it.
@@topkek5164 Yes but going insane in a Cyberdine alpha test data center would be scarier, so we watch this and are thankful, and let go of the past emotional baggage which that "traffic cone" caused us so long ago, wouldn't you agree?
@@topkek5164 how much do these guys make?
@@PixelBoyMiner Quickly asking Dr. Google finds me a medium income of around $60k with a range of $40k-90k. I do not know how accurate that is and how that raises with experience, but that's not bad at all.
IT was epic! First time to see this kind of facility. More videos please.
Hi Raf, Thanks for this video to show insights of a full fledged Data center. This video was really helpful for me as I am in cybersecurity career, and wanted to know how a DC looks from inside. Thank you again and keep posting such videos on different things/operations in a DC.
I really like the green color on the desks
I've worked in a NOC at a datacenter both nightshift and day shift. I must say night shift was lit. Plenty of gaming to do!
Hey, I'm curious: what is the air lock for in the video? You can see the guy inside it at 12:07.
Reminds me of my night shift back at a large airport. Although for NOC the guys seems to be doing a lot of infrastructure/data centre/layer 1 related stuff. No switch or router config???
I don't work in a data centre like this but I do work as a network engineer in a maintenance department of a large company with large server rooms, multiple critical services and such.
In my experience you rarely get to work on switch and router configs and if you do it's usually minor changes and firmware updates.
If you want to actually work hands on with switches and Routers on a regular basis you might want to be in project, design or integration work rather than maintenance and operations work.
He's a data center technician, not a noc technician
I really enjoyed the video, I learned a lot : CRC errors, OTDR, ESXI, ATS, UPS, NOC... Pretty cool to be shown around and see what the job looks like.
I really appreciate this inside look into what you do. I dont understand everything you talked about, but Im driven to learn more because of youtube content like this. Thanks!!!
I know many people who are techs at data centers. They love the job, kicked back and relaxed with good pay atany companies. Guys at Google and Facebook get good benefits, game lounges, stocked break rooms, all meals provides, etc.
Ah yes, sounds like a dream 🙄😒
I can tell, it's cool because you have a lot of technology to play with and that add many skills you can take with you to any tech companies out there.
Ahh believe me for me it was amazing tour of a Network Data Center / NOC 👍
I used to work overnight/NOC for trading firms in Chicago/USA. Non-stop drama, though, it paid quite well for those just beginning their IT career.
A lot of valuable experience and learning opportunities; with all of the hats we were required to wear as, basically, a skeleton crew.
Were you guys paid hourly? If so, how much?
@@kaiser0923 Salary. And the salary, at the time (early 2000s), was about $45,000. I was only a level-1 tech, however.
@@ragnarocking I see, thank you so much! You are awesome!
Drama? as in drama with the work being done or drama with other coworkers?
@@julianmorales-silva160
Drama with the work.
Any job tied to global high-finance and the stock markets can be intense. You're always fighting small and large fires.
IMO, it was rather exciting however. And like I alluded to earlier: it was a great learning experience.
Thanks for sharing this experience. I worked more than 5 years as NOC Engineer, you made all my experience resume as NOC Engineer on this video. On this area we learn a lot and most of times make us as open mind in different areas.
Glad to see that you can bring camera device on data centers! 🤗
Some company here in the philippines prohibit camera devices or mobile phone in enterimg Data Centers