Microsoft’s success depends on our people. We are proud to introduce some of the talented folks in your community who work in our global datacenters. Discover what inspired them to seek a career in the tech industry, the different pathways they explored, and what a day in the life of a datacenter employee looks like.

Introducing Bale Hsieh

Critical Environment Operations Manager Taiwan Employee since 2022

Early days

Bale grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. He began engaging with critical environments through a work-study program during high school in the field of facilities maintenance. His academic journey helped him identify his strengths and interests, leading him to focus on the stability of offshore wind power systems during his university and graduate studies. After graduating, Bale’s first job was at TSMC, where he worked on the maintenance, operation, construction, and testing of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems for large-scale facilities. Later, he transitioned into the IT industry where he was responsible for the operation, maintenance, and construction support of critical environments in datacenters before joining Microsoft.

The path to technology

Bale joined Microsoft in 2022 as a Critical Environment Field Service Engineer for the Taiwan datacenter team. In this role, he served as the technical authority to manage the reliability and uptime of datacenter critical environments. Later, he transitioned to an Electrical Engineer position.

With the career planning support and opportunities provided by Microsoft, Bale transitioned again in 2023 to become a Critical Environment Operations Manager. This marked the first time in his career taking on a people manager role, leading professionals specializing in mechanical, electrical, and control systems. Together, they manage datacenter operations to maximize availability while fostering a culture of safety, security, and compliance in all aspects of operations.

Superpowers

Bale’s superpower is his “Mamba Mentality”—the mindset it takes to be the best, be fearless, build a good team, make your own luck, which was inspired by Kobe Bryant, an American professional basketball player. This drives him to approach challenges as opportunity; everything around Bale becomes his library to help him achieve his targeted goals.

A day in the life

Bale is the team leader of critical environment subject matter experts and program manager, so he wakes up at 5 every morning to complete the fitness routine refreshing his mind. After strategizing the whole day first, he starts to work on all tasks within operations. He connects with his team to understand the pressing issues and backlogs, and helps his team achieve the goals together. As he’s supporting the Critical Environment domain at the datacenter, Bale makes sure to have constant collaboration with the safety, compliance, and engineering teams and the business partners to commit datacenter operation objectives. He also leads the team to grow together.