

Running a South Pole data center - davidw
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/04/coolest-jobs-in-tech-literally-running-a-south-pole-data-center/

======
pbh101
My grandfather visited Antarctica in '58-'59 as part of an initiative called
something like "International Year of Science." After his second year at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he traveled to Virginia and hopped on
a ship.

That ship eventually traversed the Panama Canal, crossed the equator, stopped
over in New Zealand, then proceeded south to Antarctica. From there they then
traveled north to Melbourne, then headed west. Apparently they had engine
trouble and had to stop in Perth as well. From there the proceeded to stop in
Durban and Montevideo before returning to Virginia. It was a long trip...

The kicker is that he had the foresight to buy film cameras (one color, one
BW) before this and filmed a bunch of stuff. A couple years ago, while
preparing for a move, my grandmother found a box with reels and reels of
footage, unlabeled and not in any particular order. She took it to a film
processing shop, and together with people there, they pieced together a
probable timeline and spliced together ~90 minutes of interesting footage out
of heap and digitized it. So now I have a DVD with some pretty cool footage of
that trip. Elephants, albatross, icebergs, heavy machinery down in
Antarctica... that must have been an amazing trip for a guy who grew up in
small-town Illinois.

My family still has the coat and rucksack he was issued, with his name on it
and a pretty cool seal/patch.

After that, my grandfather went on to do a bunch of other kickass things, like
found a couple engineering startups in Boston in the 60s, with varying
success: flip a couple, get screwed by some shady folks... the works.

Partly because of his story, I'm heading down to Antarctica early next year,
though not on anything quite so cool: just taking a two-week cruise, but I'm
excited to be retracing his steps in a way.

~~~
flanbiscuit
I would love to see this video. Would you and your family be willing to put it
up on Vimeo, Youtube, or some video hosting (self-hosting too) service. Maybe
edit it down to the highlights or something.

Or maybe since you're doing your own trip down there you can put together a
video of your trip, spliced with your grandfather's trip.

Just some thoughts

I want to travel some more.

~~~
pbh101
I've been meaning to do that and of course never got around to it. I plan to
review the video before I head out there, so I'll be in a good position to put
it online. Contact me via email (in profile) and I can send you a ping when I
do.

~~~
thret
I have also emailed requesting a ping. I imagine many people here would be
curious to see it!

------
cwal37
Opportunities like this provoke an incredibly intense response in me. I would
drop almost everything to go work and live in Antarctica for 6-12 months, and
searched fruitlessly for available jobs when I finished my undergraduate
degree a few years ago. I'm not qualified for the position they talk about in
this article, and I have a pretty good career path and professional
responsibilities I can't just abandon now, but the pull remains strong.

Something about unique circumstance and desolation in particular just hits me
in a particular part of my brain.

One of the most surreal and powerful moments in my life was pulling over in
the middle of complete desolation in northwestern Namibia to wander the desert
in the middle of the night. It was lit by a full moon, and the entire world
was this shade of soft, ethereal purple I hadn't seen before and probably
never will again. It was illuminating this tremendous expanse of landscape
sparsely populated by utterly alien flora. In some ways it just felt right to
be as utterly alone as I could be, in an alien situation I couldn't have
imagined even 6 months prior.

~~~
8_hours_ago
A few years ago I saw this position opening and immediately applied for the
same reason, it sounded like an incredible adventure. I was rejected as I
should have been... unfortunately I'm a developer not an IT professional.
Maybe someday they'll have an opening for an embedded developer and I'll get
to spend a winter in Antarctica...

Edit: I looked through my old emails and I applied for the UNIX Systems
Administrator position on April 25, 2012. I must have done it after reading
this exact article!

Edit2: This is the original job description:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120609030319/http://icecube.wi...](https://web.archive.org/web/20120609030319/http://icecube.wisc.edu/jobs/show/unix_sysadmin)

~~~
chrissnell
$52K/yr. That's really crap pay, especially when you consider that it's a
contractor job with a 12-month option-to-renew.

~~~
amckenna
Last time I looked into it you don't pay for room, board, food, cold weather
gear, or the flight down/back. So in reality your take home pay and savings
are fairly high.

~~~
ddebernardy
Not everyone is a single male with no wife or kids. :-)

------
pdoconnell
I used to work at UW Space Science and Engineering Center, which did lots of
remote support for the projects down on the ice. We would often be
communicating with IceCube to plan shipments, or get machines that touched
each other working. This was one of the most interesting systems support you
can think of.

The hardest part of the support was system updates. There wasn't even a local
yum cache on the continent, and many of these machines had security standards
they had to meet involving staying patched. Once I managed to start a batch-
update job over SSH, and within 15 minutes I had the team lead run into my
office to see if I was doing anything, because he received a call saying we
were saturating the bandwidth to the continent.

I never even considered applying for the jobs down on the ice, because I would
never PQ. Even migraines can be too much, because if you're going down they
need you ready to work EVERY day you're down there. Transient medical issues
happen, but chronic without any control, or requiring medicine for survival,
immediately disqualifies you. My friend who just hit McMurdo this week had to
have dental work done to qualify.

All that being said, Barnett and the rest of the Ice Cube team do some amazing
work with extremely difficult technical problems to solve. It is the same
level of difficulty as anything in space, and they have done remarkably.

~~~
themodelplumber
Very interesting. What does PQ mean? Pass qualification?

~~~
pdoconnell
Physically qualify I believe, but either really works. Everyone would just
grumble about all the health visits they would have to do in September and
October to be ready.

------
evanb
I applied for this job. I have a PhD in physics and have some administrative
experience, and I didn't (yet) have a postdoc position.

The application process was very interesting---I had a phone conference-call
interview with a few people in Wisconsin and New Zealand. I made what must
have been a relatively short short list, because the interview was not cheap:
they flew me to WIPAC, had me take a full physical (ultrasound, cardio study,
chest x-rays, etc.) which is required for any winter-over position, set up a
full day of interviews with science-side, tech-side, and administrative-side
people, some of whom themselves had wintered over. The beer and cheese curds
in Madison are great. Check out the Great Dane.

A lot of the interview was to gauge personality, and there were a lot of
questions along the lines of "If someone was acting in a dangerous &
threatening way, and you were in a place more remote than the space station
(in the sense that there is no escape capsule or any chance for rescue) what
would you do?"

The tech that keeps IceCube going is a bunch of custom-designed and
manufactured blades which receive (IIRC) UDP from the sensors in the ice. A
lot of processing happens at the pole, because the limited (and satellite-
orbit-dependent) bandwidth would make transferring the whole dataset wildly
impractical. So the "interesting" events are found on-site and sent over the
satellite, while everything is also written to tape. Once the summer comes the
tape is swapped out. Scientists can also query additional data to be sent via
satellite if they need something specific.

A few weeks later I was told that for the two IceCube winter-over tech
positions, I was third choice, and that if one of the people offered the job
sustains an injury, fails the psychological examination, or backs out, that I
might be called on short notice. As I didn't have a job at that point, it was
OK by me, but I was certainly disappointed. I'm happy in my postdoc position,
but will certainly apply again when the time comes.

Had I wintered over, it would have been the smallest of small-world phenomena,
as someone I know from college was one of the chefs there this winter.

Aside: I have heard that (if you get the job) they will sometimes
preventatively remove your wisdom teeth / demand & provide other preventative
treatments.

~~~
viewer5
That's some crazy stuff. I wish you all the best when you re-apply!

------
kqr2
For those interested in working at Antarctica, check out the Big Dead Place:

[http://bigdeadplace.org/](http://bigdeadplace.org/)

From the old Antarctica FAQ on working there and how it changes you:

    
    
      First time is for the adventure, 
      Second time for the money, 
      And third because you can't work anywhere else 
    

For those familiar with John Carpenter's _The Thing_ , this is also an
interesting read:

[http://bigdeadplace.org/antarctica-the-thing-and-the-
station...](http://bigdeadplace.org/antarctica-the-thing-and-the-
station/index.html)

    
    
      As a whole the subjects became less trusting and more
      suspicious of others immediately after their year in 
      Antarctica.” –A.J.W. Taylor, Professor of Clinical 
      Psychology, “The Selection of People for Work in Polar 
      Regions”
    

The essay ends:

    
    
      In the actual USAP, employees are forbidden flamethrowers.

------
SG-
My dad did something like this up in northern Canada at the DEW Line
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line))
to monitor the Russians during the cold war. He was a radio tech and while he
told me stories about how bad the weather was combined with the loneliness, he
also told me it was one of the most unique and best experiences in his life.
It focused him into going back to school and becoming an aerospace engineer.

------
chrissnell
I went out for one of these roles back in the early 2000's. I even flew to
Dallas on my own dime to attend a Raytheon career fair, in hopes of getting in
the door at Raytheon Polar Services. The recruiters at the fair had little
knowledge of these openings and I never got a call back. I had about 8 years
*NIX system admin experience at the time.

Raytheon's contract expired and now support personnel are found through a
variety of contractors. It's incredibly tough to get in the door at these
places. I never got a single call-back from any of them back in the day, even
though I was very competitive for jobs at private sector tech companies. I
suspect that you have to have an inside contact or luck out and meet them at a
career fair if you want to get your foot in the door.

~~~
b_emery
Here's a list:
[http://ghgcorp.applicantpro.com/jobs/](http://ghgcorp.applicantpro.com/jobs/)

You might also consider volunteering with a research group. Though they tend
to select from pools of grad students, I would think that someone with
technical skills (particularly hardware related) would be competitive.

~~~
pdoconnell
Look at the job linked at the start of the article. There's always a few
positions being floated either with IceCube, UW SSEC, or UW AOS that end up
down there every year. That is also true of grad student positions, as you
say.

------
dglo
If you're really interested in a job with IceCube, you can watch
[http://icecube.wisc.edu/jobs](http://icecube.wisc.edu/jobs)

We'll be looking for a couple more winter-overs in mid-January. The newest
winter-overs landed at the South Pole less than 24 hours ago! You can follow
their exploits at
[http://icecube.wisc.edu/news/current](http://icecube.wisc.edu/news/current)

~~~
jnardiello
Would any applicant from Europe be considered?

~~~
pierre
If you own an european passport I believe you could apply for a job at
concordia, the most remote south pole station! It is 1100km inland in the
coldest place on earth and 3233m above sea level!

Job board : [http://www.institut-
polaire.fr/ipev/l_institut/travailler_da...](http://www.institut-
polaire.fr/ipev/l_institut/travailler_dans_les_regions_polaires) (job offers
are pdfs)

More info :
[http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Concordi...](http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Concordia)

You may want to read about how to get there (if you know how to drive a truck
you can apply to the heaby payload team that cross antartica once a year with
haevy duty tractors, doing the travel from coast to concordia in 10 days)
[http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Concordi...](http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Concordia/Voyage_to_the_end_of_the_world)

wikipedia :
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_Station](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_Station)

------
hudibras
Twenty years ago, I spent ten weeks in Antarctica and the experience changed
my life. It's hard to describe (and I'm not the guy to do it) but the
bleakness and immensity of the continent is overwhelming--but then you realize
that, hey, here are some bipedal mammals that flew in giant metal machines
down here to eat, sleep, learn, and run IT systems. No big whoop, humans can
do anything.

Every year, I still wistfully scan the Antarctica job listings...

------
hga
I have a friend who did this sort of thing back in the '70s, maintaining a
PDP-8 that ran a weather radar at the South Pole station during the long
winter.

Not much in the way of creature comforts back then, he said they got _very_
familiar with the few movies they had copies of, _What 's Up, Doc?_ was the
only one he mentioned by name.

~~~
sampo
_" An annual tradition is a back to back viewing of The Thing from Another
World, The Thing (1982), and The Thing (2011) after the last flight has left
for the winter."_

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Po...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Station#Operation)

~~~
sigzero
That's awesome.

------
dissarms
working in the south pole: very cool.

working for war profiteers: very uncool.

among other crimes against humanity, raytheon produce those illegal cluster
munitions that indiscriminately kill kids long after the battle moves on. It
is estimated that over 800,000 Raytheon cluster bomblets have been dropped on
the civilian population of Iraq.

ckem.

~~~
jobposter1234
This is an interesting line of thought.

I figure even a war profiteering corporation like Raytheon has some
departments or projects that are a net positive for humanity.

By refusing to work at Raytheon, even in a positive role, you doom the company
to hire less ethical people. if that happens enough, where good people won't
work in good departments, eventually Raytheon will stop doing the good things,
and become more evil.

~~~
tbirdz
Just as an Example, Raytheon invented the microwave oven.

~~~
PavlovsCat
Something we could do without, and that doesn't make any murdered person alive
again. I'll go even further and say someone who kills a person and then saves
the lives of 10 is still a murderer. This stuff is not up for calculation,
really. But even if it was: did they also invent microwaves, or do you think
there is just a _tiny_ chance that the microwave oven would have been invented
either way, at some point or another?

------
tristor
I'm probably exactly the type of person they're looking for based on my
background, and I've actually looked into going to Antarctica multiple times.
I've always wanted to do at least a year long gig down there. The problem is
that it's always contract-work, and I have never been at the right point in my
life to give up a full-time job to drop everything and go.

I'm hoping if everything works out in my present organization, once we exit I
can maybe take the time off needed to pursue an opportunity in Antarctica.
That region of the world holds a particular draw for me because it's one of
the least touched by humanity and has an almost ethereal natural beauty. It
needs to be researched but also preserved and being a part of that would be
awesome.

------
BetaCygni
> the GOES-3 Satellite —a weather satellite launched in 1978 that lost its
> weather imaging capabilities and now provides 1-megabit per second data
> transmission for eight hours a day

Beautiful! From
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOES_3](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOES_3)

> having spent over thirty one years in operation, it is one of the oldest
> functioning satellites in orbit.

------
kimburgess
I worked with a guy a few years back that's done a few seasons with the
Australian Antarctic Division. From everything I've heard it's an incredible
experience.

For those who can work in Australia you can set up notifications for new
positions (comms techs, electrical engineers etc) here:
[http://www.antarctica.gov.au/jobs/jobs-in-
antarctica](http://www.antarctica.gov.au/jobs/jobs-in-antarctica).

------
joelanders
I just posted this Linux Journal article from 20 years ago, "Linux in
Antarctica." We've come a long way.

[0]:
[http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2843](http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2843)

[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8571947](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8571947)

------
thepacketrat
They're hiring a webmaster. But I think it's in a different cold place:
Madison, Wisconsin.
[http://icecube.wisc.edu/jobs/show/webmaster](http://icecube.wisc.edu/jobs/show/webmaster)

------
darkhorn
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station Antarctica Tour:
[http://youtu.be/P5lQ9DCXIbs](http://youtu.be/P5lQ9DCXIbs). You can see the
data center here for few seconds.

------
seqizz
Hmmh smells like global warming..

