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Study Says Massachusetts Best State For Technology
Anonymous Coward writes "The Milken Institute (site is cnn/msnbc/wapo dotted it seems) has released a study claiming MA is the best state for technology while Texas has dropped to 26th. I'm curious on everyone's thoughts on this. It seems to me Arizona and Austin are most attractive because of the low cost of living and lots of open space. I just don't see (in my job hunting) very many start-up or expansion in the states they list at the top.
Lots more at Google News."
Reader footh adds a link to a PDF of the results.
Massachusetts isn't dropping its suit against Mirosoft.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
With all those colleges in MA (including MIT), it's not surprising that it's the top state for technology. It's virtually a breading ground for it.
really understand what you are saying about natural migration- in fact I don't get your point at all- sorry
But arizona is not a desolate land. It is beautiful with a wide range of environments. I love to spend time in the desert as well as the mountains. I wish it weren't so beautiful sometimes because frankly I'm sick of so many people moving here every year.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
What does "Lots of Space" have to do with technology? You mean that scientists in urban Boston cant develop technology than someone in a suburban 1 story building with 7000 space parking lots and a 10 minute drive to go to the next building over?
If that's the case than Alaska should be #1. They have the most space - and since it is so cold people would have no choice but to sit inside and innovate... Hmmm. What about Siberia - where is all the technology from Siberia? They have lots of space there... And we all know about Soviet Russia.
Everyone knows that it's best to start a company in a state with legendary high taxes! *roll eyes* What a joke.
Gosh, Timothy, why would you have chosen to compare Taxachussets and Texas? There wouldn't be a political reason, would there? I mean, we all know you're not a Bush supporter, but can you try to be less transparent next time than to choose a liberal-biased pro-government cheerleader such as the Milken Institute.
Anyone doubt me? Just look at the Milken Institute front page which is currently promoting it's Global Conference, a forum on "affordable housing" (which is just a tax on those who buy their homes to help pay for those who don't) and fawning interview with Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament.
Yawn.
Or everyone could grant your wish, and leave Austin, immediately causing your housing market to crash, and eventually causing the rest of the conveniences you now take for granted in the new Austin economy go away as well. And unlike Silicon Valley, they aren't coming back.
So careful what you wish for.
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
It's one measure, and as such not an unreasonable one. It doesn't mean that there aren't other valid ways to slice the data that would yield eqaully interesting and possibly contradictory results.
;-)
Just as an example of another way of looking at it: living in Boston, I can certainly say that our traditional strength is still firmly in place, we're a college city. No, not in the way that NY is or LA is. Yes, those cities have lots of colleges too, so do most cities.
But, we have colleges the way most cities have fire hydrants. I've never seen another city where traffic drops to about 1/3 of its normal volume during school breaks. Commuting in the summer is SUCH A JOY. We're one of the densest cities in the country, occupying about the size of the LA central Post Office, and most of that area is covered by schools.
Why is this useful? Because MIT, Harvard, Northeastern, Tufts, BU, BC, UMass and many other local schools produce not just graduates but techologies, businesses, infrastructure and more. I work for a company founded by MIT post-grads who spun off their schoolwork as a business. The same was true for one other company I've worked for, and just about EVERY company has benefited from the colleges in some way (hiring at the very least).
Lest I forget, we also have a large number of highly respected specialty colleges which add in an element of niche expertise in many areas. The ones that come to mind at first are Berkely College of Music and The Mass. College of Pharmacy... though you could probably make all sorts of jokes about what sorts of expertise those two would produce together
Back to topic, there are many ways to look at the data and many data-sets to look at. Don't write off this particular report as useless, just don't take ANY such report as conclusive.
If we are talking about cost of living being the determining factor like the poster of the article says, well then India is the best place along with China.
In the USA Texas would not be the best place because theres places with an even lower cost of living and plenty of open space.
The best state for tech is the state with the best economy, most educated population and the most money. That state happens to be Mass due to MIT, Harvard, Tufts, and the many other great schools here of course we'd have the advantage over Texas.
What great schools are there in Texas? Also places with lower costs of living usually also have a population which generally has less wealth which explains why they live in poor areas where the cost of living is low. If you run a business you want to be where the other businesses are. When businesses move to a place the cost of living eventually goes up and if Texas had become Silicon valley do you honestly think a bunch of poor people would be living there? The cost of living would skyrocket to the levels of Cali or Boston.
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
Bad thing about Massachusetts: TAXES
Jesus, it's not that bad at all. Stop crying about it. The traffic is nothing compared to Houston or Dallas. It's an amazing place to live and the job market is re-bounding. An hour commute? What, are you taking 35? You can get from south Austin to North on Mopac in way under 45 minutes during the morning rush.
*Fortitudo, aequitas, fidelitas.*
Here are a few reasons why Boston is a great place to work for techies:
1. Get to work with smart, old grizzled veterans. They have taught me a few things about discipline, engineering and adaptation. Having a mentor has been invaluable in my career experience.
2. The girls here are hot, and for the girls there are a lot of very fine and eligible bachelors for are actually nice - sometimes too nice for their own good. This place is like "Logan's Run". It seems like nobody is older than 25 at times.
3. You can walk and bike anywhere. Everything is so close. I don't own a car.
4. Compare to New York, you got nature basically right in your backyard - Blue Hills is a 6,000 acre reserve that's 5 miles from downtown Boston.
5. Great, thriving geek culture and community. I never miss the 6.270 autonomous robotic contest at MIT, for example, or the fact that you can take holography classes in adult education schools.
6. Energetic, creative nightlife. If you're into bars, clubs and dancing, it's here. But if you are into performance art, experimental music, hacking groups, murder mysteries or pot luck dinners w/strangers, they are here also.
There's a lot more. Of course there are problems with the city too, but I think the good outweighs the bad.
If the amount of Orkut users is any indication, I'd have to agree with the study.
The ranking is....
1. Cali
2. NY
3. Mass
With such a small state being so "wired", there must be a lot of technology there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The story is a dupe, the topic is boring, the facts weren't checked. WE GET IT!!
Check the list at this article about where people are moving to more than moving away from. Turns out the top states as measured by Allied Van Lines moving truck trips are Vermont, Alaska and Montana. Now, I'm in Vermont and can tell you that the population total's pretty stable. What those Allied stats really reflect is that the people coming into Vermont can afford a full-service commercial mover, while those leaving are packing it all into the back of their pickup or renting a U-Haul.
What does this have to do with future tech jobs? Aside from IBM's big facility in Burlington (the biggest single employer in the state) it means there's a lot of fresh money here brought in by the folks who have afforded the moving vans. So how entrepreneurial are you? Plus the weather isn't much different than Boston's - a few degrees cooler traded off against a beautiful landscape you can actually live in. In homes that cost 1/3 as much. Don't tell anyone....
Montana would be my second choice. Those winter days are just too short in Alaska.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
As we all know, MA is chock full o' nerd women, which makes it the best state for tech, hands down.
You'd do well to back up some of those "traditional Mass-bashing" with some current stats.
.5 acre in Natick (15 in from Boston) for $370k. $1M+ for similar in CA.
High Taxes (income, property, real estate, car, excise).
MA income tax is 5%. California's is 9.3%.
MA sales tax is 5%. CA is 6%. MA property tax is average 1-2% (mine is 1.232 in Natick). CA is 3%. Car taxes are much higher in CA (don't have number, but neither did you, and I lived in both). Excise is town-specific and easy to avoid.
Lots of gubmint interference
Where in the US isn't there? This is meaningless.
High fees for lic, reg, insurance, title, etc. etc.
It was cheaper by 3x to buy, reg, and license my car in MA than CA. Look it up.
PITA to own a gun for self defense.
PITA if you're a felon. Yeah. So?
Outrageous cost of housing
Only valid point -- but why is housing expensive? Because it's a good place to live -- the market couldn't bear the prices if people wouldn't pay it. I just bought a nice 3BR on
6 months of winter, and the roads are salted so your car will rot out (sheds tear for his decapitated but loved car)
4 months of winter, and some of us like not sweating anytime we're outside. Skiing is nice. And you can always put on a jacket. Back in AZ or FL or even So. CA -- you can only take off so much clothing before you get arrested. And if you have a job, you can't stay in the pool all day. Nice places to vacation, since you can spend it in the water, but I hated living there. To each his own, I guess.
Lots of rudeness and Hate (A house for sale near Boston was set on fire by White neighbors when they discovered the people buying it were Black)
Nice anecdote -- I'm sure nothing like that has ever happened anywhere else. Never any race riots in CA, always in MA, right?
The RMV is staffed by people who actively enjoy being rude and hateful.
This, my friend, is universal.
everything in moderation
I don't get it. I have a tech job in MA, and I've hired 5 people in the last year here. Some of them came from CA, where "there were no tech jobs to be had that weren't whored out to H1B's". Yeah, competition is fierce and people judge you based on measurable performance and experience -- sandals and a "whoah dude" attitude do not fool New Englanders into thinking you're so good that you're that cool.
Sorry it didn't work out for you, but for many it does. Me, for example.
Now, how is this +1 Informative again? Oh, that mod didn't get the job he wanted in MA either, I guess. Good for us.
everything in moderation
My point is that Texas has the 2nd largest economy in the Union (behind California), the 2nd largest population (also behind California), and we actually have a pretty damn diverse economy as well, so someone saying something along the lines of "what's in Texas besides video game companies" is pretty damn ignorant.
Massachusetts consists (economically) mostly of the Boston metropolitan area, which also includes the south of New Hampshire. Things don't look so rosy business-wise in the western part of the state, but it doesn't affect the average for the state all that much. (as opposed to e.g. California or Texas, where any averages are going to include a lot of farmers and oilmen, kind of bringing down the tech index)
Lots of people on this thread have talked about cost of living and whatnot, but let's face it - if you're starting a new company, you want to locate where you can steal someone else's employees without their needing to move. And if you work for a little startup company, you sure as hell don't want to have to sell your house if they go under or turn weird and you have to jump ship. All of which means, if you want to work for a hot company, your cost of living is going to suck. Such is life - when engineers are expensive, houses tend to be expensive as well.
Which sort of leads into another point - I think that Boston, and Massachusetts in general, is a center of technology just because it is. It's not just because of the universities - there are other places (Amherst/Northampton, for one) with even higher concentrations of college students, who leave as fast as they can after graduation. Boston (or 128/495/whatever) is a good place to start a company because you can find people who started companies, and you can find them because it was a good place to start a company a few years ago.
I think the thing about Bostonians is not rudeness per se, but a kind of manic pace. Researchers a few years back compared American cities by things like how quickly people talk, the amount of time transactions took to complete at sales counters, how often people interrupt each other, etc. Boston was by far the fastest paced city in the US.
This pretty much bears out my experience. Bostonians are always rushing around, with their mind on the next place their going to be. We don't spare any time for things like making eye contact and polite conversation with strangers,and people who do are probably immediately suspect of being muggers or con-men.
One thing that constantly struck me when I started to do business in other parts of the country is how long people take to get to the point. Of course, this may mean by standards of other parts of the country Bostonians are rude, but the converse is also true: Bostonians consider wasting peoples time as rude. Is this any way to live? I don't know, it seems natural to me. It's just a difference in cultural norms, like the way different cultures have different norms about the appropriate distance to stand from another person when having a conversation. Cities have different norms as to how much beating around the bush is enough to express polite human interest in another person; Boston is on one end of the bell curve, and certain southern cities are on the other. When it comes to more fundamental things like true consideration for others, Bostonians not worse than residents of most other cities, and better than some.
Speaking of bum raps, New Yorkers have a reputation for rudeness that in my experience is totally undeservered. Despite what you see in the movies I've found New Yorkers to be far and away the most helpful and genuinely friendly big city dwellers I've ever encountered. Perhaps their reputation for rudeness has some part in this, because many New Yorkers seem to be almost consciously acting as civic ambassadors.
As far as the Mass RMV is concerned, it's a hell of a lot better than it used to be. It used to be so grossly understaffed and training levels were so low that the people working there had an attitude that making an effort made no difference so why bother? I can attest to this myself having seen examples of amazing incompetence and indifference personally. However RMV went through major reorganization that included increasing staffing, and improving training, systemizing customer service, and expanding regional offices so people don't have to travel as far to get service. Since the 90's my personal experience with RMV is that it is quick, efficient and friendly.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
In my 12 years of commercial software experience (commercial OS and video systems development) I've worked with a number of MIT grads. The average MIT grad is not smarter than the average geek with a C.S. or engineering degree from any other decent university.
Are they smart? Yes. Smarter than everyone else? Not usually, although they often think they are. On the down side, you have to deal with "when I was at MIT yadda yadda. MIT yadda yadda. Did I mention that I went to MIT? Oh, by the way, MIT". You don't get nearly that kind of inflated ego or name dropping from any of the other well known tech universities.
Sorry to call you fellows (and ladies) out on this, but please, ratchet down the MIT-worship a notch. Yes you go/went to a great school. So did a lot of other people.