The Massachusetts Technology Sector Essay -- Journalism Journalistic E

The momma Technology SectorAfter work outing for more(prenominal) than than five years as a software engineer at a Massachusetts-based digital-video editing comp all, Dave Lanzar decided it was magazine to take a misfortune and join the ranks of a start-up streaming media company that had yet to go public.The afterlife was rosy and we were all going to get rich, Lanzar say.But that future neer materialized, and the company that was supposed to make Lanzar rich no longer exists. He was laid off in August 2001, one month in the beginning the terrorist attacks on Sept.11, 2001 accelerated an already progressing downturn in the job trade that hit the Massachusetts technology sector especially hard. Lanzar did non work as a programmer again for over two years. During that time he burnt through his entire savings and starting doing preposterous jobs like baby-sitting and lawn-work to survive. In October 2003 he secured a several-month-long select job.After the contract ended in early 2004, it was six more months until Lanzar found a permanent job. Even though he is back to work, his extended, unpaid and thrown-away(prenominal) vacation still haunts him.I definitely, sometimes feel my rustiness. Im having to work very hard to overcome that, Lanzar said.The Massachusetts high-tech attention has been the setting for thousands of similar stories since 2001. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce report that, between 2001 and 2003, the Boston area alone lost 32,000 high-technology jobs -- a 22 percent loss. The Mass bundle Council reported in the 2004-2005 edition of its p.a. software industry research publication, The Complete Guide to the Massachusetts Software Industry, that the state lost 121 software companies and 3,859 software-related jobs in 2... ...the state will not invest too heavily in one specific scientific growth area, such as stem-cell research, while ignoring the rest. We think if theres going to be an investment in technology, it should be more broad-based, said Boulanger. Boulanger also warns of possible dangers looming on the horizon that could impede growth. He points to proposed Massachusetts House line 2606 as a potential momentum killer. The bill aims to close corporate tax loopholes, and includes a measure to ensure that any software bought online would be subject to state tax. The bill claims this loophole is worth an estimated $50 million dollars in yearly revenue.Its definitely moving in the wrong direction, Boulanger said. The state government has the ability to make Massachusetts companies more competitive around the margins. And that is all we are really asking for.