Jeff Stevenson's friends and business associates saw the writing on the wall almost as soon as Google Inc. announced its intention to build a massive server farm in Berkeley County.

In spite of the joy and pride Stevenson took from his job as a civilian employee of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, the 1991 graduate of The Citadel and a self-professed "computer geek" was bound to apply for a position with the Internet search engine giant, they said.

"People who know me knew that I'd always had a love of the more hardcore, technical side of project management, and so when Google made its announcement, a lot of my friends said, 'Gee, Jeff, I bet you're applying,' " Stevenson recalled during a recent break from the activity at Google's new home in the Mt. Holly Commerce Park. "Eventually, I thought, well, let me just see what happens. If I don't get it, I still have a job that I like at SPAWAR."

Last October, Stevenson was among the first of those hired to work at the new Google data center, and he now holds the title of technical program manager. He's since been joined by 20 other new Google employees at the facility, about a quarter of whom also hail from the Lowcountry, company officials said.

Anxious for Progress

If the hiring of Stevenson is someday seen as a milestone in the history of the region's high-tech sector, it was no less of a milestone for Google, which has been making slow but steady progress on bringing its new data center online since announcing its intentions in April 2007.

Matt Dunne, a Google spokesman, said the company is on track to begin limited testing of its equipment at the facility during the second quarter of this year, and based on that schedule, the data center will be fully operational by the end of 2008.

Most of Google's hiring for the facility, Dunne said, has taken place over the past six to eight weeks, and a variety of positions has been filled, ranging from upper-level product managers and intermediate management posts to data technicians, the people who will actually work with the servers on a daily basis. Dunne expects hiring, as well as the signing of contracts with support contractors, to continue steadily throughout the year, with a work force of 200 to likely be in place by early 2009, he said.

"There's no question, hiring is a long process at Google, and that's something we pride ourselves in and are sometimes frustrated by," Dunne said. "I know people were anxious to see hiring begin in the Lowcountry, but it's the process that ensures we get the right people in place and ultimately ensures our long-term success."

'Google-y' Enough

Stevenson experienced that long process. Despite a lengthy resume that detailed his extensive IT background, 2 1/2 months and several interviews went by before Google formally offered him a job. "It was longer and more detailed than any hiring process I'd ever been through, including when I'd applied for jobs in classified government work," he said.

Stevenson graduated from The Citadel with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, and was immediately commissioned into the U.S. Navy where he joined the nuclear engineering program. When he finished his training, he remained in Charleston, having been stationed aboard a nuclear submarine.

"I was here right up until the base closed, then moved around a bit before finally leaving the Navy in 1998," Stevenson said. "My last two years in the Navy, I was an instructor, training junior officers in management techniques."

Looking at his options, he opted out of moving to a city, such as Washington, D.C., that had a strong defense industry presence but also a horrible commute, and instead returned to the Charleston area. Buying a home in Summerville, Stevenson worked for Scientific Applications International Corp., a SPAWAR contractor, before becoming an employee of SPAWAR proper. "Throughout those years, I worked at everything from network engineering to project management," he said.

"I love the challenge of it," Stevenson said of his interest in technology. "I love the way that it's dynamic, that there's no way you can know everything, and therefore you never stop learning."

Tech expertise aside, the question is what made Stevenson "Google-y" enough to be hired. "My family laughs about this," he said, referring to his wife, Deborah, and three sons from a previous marriage, Garrett, Alexander and Jon. "I guess it comes down to having a little bit of the geek factor. People always told me I was something of a computer geek, but here at Google, I'm normal. They get my jokes."

Google also liked the fact that Stevenson was engaged in the community through involvement in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts with his sons. "Speaking more generally, I think what Google really looks for are people who are very smart, who think independently and have a lot of initiative. That's where the company's creativity comes from," Stevenson said. "They also want you to have a blast at work...which I am. In fact, I play the bagpipes and practice out behind the Google building every morning."

Mission-Critical Data Center

When he's not playing his bagpipes, Stevenson pays attention to his role at Google, which is to coordinate and prioritize work assignments as technicians toil to bring the data center online.

"Those are pretty typical functions for any manager, but I also have to understand the technical side of everything that's going on here. For instance, what does it really mean when you say we're going to install a bunch of servers, and what are the problems that can arise?" he said. "There are electrical issues, cooling issues, cabling issues. In the scheme of things, I guess my job is to make sure we don't do anything stupid," Stevenson said with a laugh.

Google is continuing to work hard to find local candidates for the jobs it still needs to fill, Dunne said. He also said he doesn't know how many members of the site's projected work force of 200 will be Google employees or contractors. "That's something that's pretty fluid," he said. "Your needs change as the technology evolves."

Google has no plans to operate anything other than a data center at the site, despite high-profile announcements that the company is expanding into other technological areas, including the phone software business, Dunne said.

"I think it's important for people to understand that Google sees these data centers as a critical part of our ability to grow as new technologies come on board, and as we're asked to organize more volume as well as more complex types of data," he said. "We need to have data center capacity to handle that growth. So no matter what other endeavors Google undertakes in the years ahead, data centers like the one in Berkeley County will always be mission critical."

Contact:

Dan McCue
dmccue@setcommedia.com