Then came the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the economic downturn. Nationwide, the technology sector - already staggering from the dot-com bust of the year before - slid deeper into the economic abyss. Three months after the Twin Towers collapsed in flames, 55-year-old Garza lost her job.
"I was in project management for technologies . . . and it was just all gone. I lost my job as part of a 20 percent layoff in January 2002," Garza recalled. "I was then 19 months without work."
Today, Garza works for the state as an employment counselor. The mother of four earns roughly half the $50,000-plus she once pulled down.
Her story is not unusual. A new state study shows that of more than 10,300 Utahns who lost tech-sector jobs from December 2000 to December 2003, only 26 percent found new jobs within the sector. Further, while 71 percent of the ex-tech workers found other jobs, the remainder did not show up again on Utah jobless rolls.
Available data do not indicate where that missing 29 percent went, said Mark Knold, the Utah Department of Workforce Services economist who authored the study. However, he speculates they either left the state or simply never filed for unemployment insurance.
Knold confessed to two surprises in the study. First, laid-off tech workers found new jobs relatively quickly - 43 percent within three months, and 72 percent within six months. Second, more than half ended up with jobs paying the same or more than their old positions.
"Either they were good, quality workers the job market rehired and compensated accordingly, or they were employed by high-tech companies, but not in high-tech occupations," Knold said. The tech sector ''may have shed lower-wage employees who coincidentally found work elsewhere at the same or higher wages."
Knold said more recent statistics have not shown a major resurgence in tech hiring; the sector accounted for roughly 57,000 jobs as of December, compared with nearly 68,000 tech positions on Utah payrolls at the end of 2000.
Nonetheless, he advises: "Don't give up on tech. At the start of the downturn, the tech industries accounted for 6 percent of employment in state, but 10-11 percent of the wages paid. We need such jobs."
Richard Nelson of the Utah Information Technology Association insists the study's findings - based on a representative sample of 1,818 workers - are dated, and that the recovery already is under way.
"It's true that tech in the state and the country went through three brutal years, but since then, every executive I've talked to has given me positive feedback," said Nelson.
Lora Lea Mock, president of Salt Lake City's Professional Recruiters, saw signs of tech recovery as early as September in the number of companies coming to her for hiring assistance.
"It was like someone switched on a light. Those numbers haven't shown up yet, but I'll bet you money they will by July, when they report the second quarter," she said.
Greg Butterfield, chief executive of Altiris Inc., shared that optimism. His computer network management company added 218 new jobs in 2003, and this May announced it would bring 50 more employees into Altiris' Lindon headquarters.
Another example is the Salt Lake City office of New York-based L-3 Communications. The company has hired more than 200 new employees so far this year, building its Utah work force to about 2,200.
As for Garza, she is at peace with her new job, despite the sizable pay cut.
"When I was laid off, I really thought I'd have no problem getting another job. I had a bachelor's in business administration and experience," she said. ''But finally, I had to lower my expectations."
Garza decided to seek a job in the public sector, "a job where I could make a difference.
"Now, I help people on public assistance come up with a plan to become employed," she said. "It's really nice to help, and I can relate, having looked for work so long myself."
