Canadian economist Nuala Beck (author of Shifting Gears: Thriving in the New Economy) has suggested that we are smack in the middle of the technological economy, en route to an engineering economy. She points out that more Americans are involved in producing computers than cars these days -- and that "knowledge workers" are fast becoming the majority of the workforce. The Futurist magazine estimates that more than 70 percent of U.S. adults will have Internet access by fall 2000. What's more, by 2020, robots and other smart machines (possessing artificial intelligence) will take over much of both our mental and physical work, leaving us to concentrate on relationships and the "human side" of our lives. By then, work might not even be the primary way we define ourselves.

These observations can be helpful in planning where to position yourself; that is, we can gauge what fields will probably be growing rather than sliding on past their prime for the next 10 to 20 years.

With that in mind, here are six fast-growing fields to take a hard look at when choosing to get training or re-training in the next century:

1. Computers and Information Technology: computer equipment, semiconductors, software, information services.
2. Health and Medical: medical care and diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, surgical and medical instruments, surgical and medical supplies, biomedical research, complementary health specialties.
3. Communications and Telecommunications: telecommunications services, guided missiles and space equipment, radio and microwave communications, entertainment, Internet, information management, e-commerce.
4. Instrumentation and Engineering: optical lenses and instruments, engineering and scientific equipment, process controls, environmental consulting and equipment, genetic engineering and biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, business in space, new materials manufacture, aquaculture.
5. Financial and Legal Services, Real Estate: venture capital, electronic banking, asset management, credit organizations, microlending, insurance, legal services, intellectual property, real estate sales and management.
6. Educational, Social and Personal Services: schools, lifelong learning, distance and self-paced learning, services and programs for disadvantaged groups and the elderly, legal services, counseling and coaching, spirituality, travel services, and a wide range of other personal services to individuals and families, particularly older Americans.

Some Words of Caution Before You Make Any Career Moves:

1. It doesn't really matter whether your job is hot. If you don't like it, then you shouldn't be doing it. So hot or not, the fit is still the thing.
2. It makes much more sense to think of fields rather than jobs. Every field has a wide range of functional positions within it -- so that if you like to write, crunch numbers, collect data, make deals, manage projects or soothe cranky customers, you'll be able to do that in any field.