From an early exposure to B52 aircraft and wanting to be a NASA engineer to supporting the global supply chain, a heartwarming discussion with Dale Pickering, Senior Infrastructure Engineer @FedEx.
This moment of near-global quarantine is an excellent opportunity to do a bit of fact gathering and get to know industry leaders like Dale, who developed a passion for electricity at an early age. From the moment Dale’s father told him that his birds always come home, he strived to live upon his father’s shoulders. Though he might be behind the scenes, his contribution to the data center industry is invaluable.
In this podcast, Dale shares his journey and recommendations for the younger generation who is trying to determine a career path. We talk about education, culture, leadership, and continuous change. What is the new norm, and what will it look like after we emerge from the pandemic?
Dale’s experience includes ATMEL Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, where he worked as a Power Quality Engineer for 13 years and became their Principle Electrical Engineer responsible for overall Manufacturing and Test Facility’s Construction and Maintenance. After US chip manufacturing moved to China, he consulted to the City of Colorado Spring’s Electrical Transmission & Distribution Division’s Engineering Department and then the Water Division’s Controls & Telemetry Engineering Department. When FedEx started constructing a large data center in Colorado Springs, they tapped Dale for an electrical engineering position at their World Headquarters’ Engineering Staff. He was tasked with protecting FedEx’s $300M+ investment in their massive data center construction project. Over the past 11 years, he has completed construction, commissioning and IT infrastructure to support all of FedEx’s international air and ground shipping business. Today, he manages and maintains the FedEx data center, helping to keep all of their fleets of aircraft and trucks on task, delivering emergency health care supplies throughout the US and the world, in the fight against this global pandemic.
