Why the huge pay disparity in data centre roles?
When a data centre professional in Johor is paid less than one in Singapore.
Why should a Malaysia data centre professional be paid less than one working in Singapore?
For Unfiltered Friday today, let's talk about the topic everyone pretends doesn't matter but secretly obsesses over. Our pay.
Specifically, the salaries of data centre professionals separated by a 1km bridge at its narrowest.
What's your salary again?
Liew Chin Tong, the Malaysia Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry first brought it up at W.Media - Global Malaysia CDC in KL last week.
He cited an anecdote shared by the Menteri Besar of Johor about a conversation with a data centre operator about the salaries of DC professionals.
- S'pore DC operator: S$4,000 (US$3K).
- M'sia DC operator: RM4,000 (US$0.9K).
Read other insights Liew shared about the Malaysia data centre market here.
A common occurrence
The anecdote got me thinking and I pinged a handful of data centre contacts for their off-the-record opinions.
- Turns out it is common in some industries to peg the salary that way, says one source - where a worker paid SG$2,000 in S'pore is paid RM$2,000 in M'sia. I'm not sure if it still happens today, but I won't be surprised.
- Another told me that this is a sensitive topic that needs to be "appropriately contextualised". Unfortunately, he's on holiday and I didn't want to intrude further.
What are your thoughts on vastly differing salaries for doing the same work? Is it fair?
Upskilling matters
For data centre professionals, there is one sure path to gain pay parity; it turns out the pay gap narrows with specialisation.
As a rough example:
- Entry level: The situation above.
- Skilled professional: Gap closes to 25%.
- Expert-level skills: Pay parity regardless of location.
In a nutshell, experts with highly sought skills aren't just paid more than their in-country peers, they are paid the equivalent of top experts in the most expensive country.
Be that expert.
Winds of change
But the situation is surely changing in Johor, even without expert level skillsets, which admittedly isn't gained overnight.
You know what they say about demand and supply? Well, the demand for data centre professionals is about to go through the roof in Johor.
And crunch time will come end-2025, just ahead of the next wave of data centres going live, says another source.
Are you already seeing salaries going up? Do comment or drop me a DM - requests for privacy will be honoured.
