By Emily Wengert

Jobs in everything from videogame design to information security have hit the big time with coursework to match

Like many people in their 30s, Nicole Willick fondly remembers playing Ms. Pacman while growing up. With a handful of quarters from her dad clutched in her hand, she'd head to the arcade to beat the latest games. Little did she realize she was doing research, in a way, for her future career as senior producer for the videogame company Activision.

Nicole is forging new ground, both by working in a $28 billion videogame industry that has only been around since the early '70s and as one of the field's first female employees.

"When I started here in production, I think I was the only woman," Nicole says.

But that's starting to change. Nicole just wrapped up producing Madagascar, a game based on the children's film, and, by chance, four out of five of the people producing the game were women. Although there are still more men in videogame creation, Nicole sees an increasing number of women joining the company.

As videogames have taken hold (annual hardware and software sales are worth more than what the movie industry makes in the box office), video gaming majors have shown up in schools around the country - everything from undergraduate work or a master's certificate to a PhD.

Sometimes referred to as digital/interactive media, these programs teach 3D imaging, interface design and motion theory. But if you like to blaze new trails, videogame design is only one field that's hot right now.

Project Management
Project management sounds so straightforward: a combination of amazing organizational and people skills. Think you've got what it takes?

Make sure you've also got confidence plus good negotiating, political, and networking skills. Then there's also the uncertainty: a project can last six months or six years after which you may have to go hunting for new work.

"Project managers have to be hustlers, too. Good salespeople and negotiators," says Robert Deemer, assistant professor of operations at Regis University, a classroom and online school based in Colorado. "You have to beg, borrow, and steal people. They may be reluctant to become part of the team."

Though project management has been around for four decades, it has exploded in the last 10 years with the growth in technology and companies pushing to put out new products, Robert says.

"Working on space shuttles and rockets, I've had all kinds of exciting things in my career," adds Robert, who worked for 15 years at Lockheed Martin. "But I like to live on the edge."

Don't think you've got the skills yet? There are certificate programs in project management that generally focus on managing resources and team leadership, while master's degrees concentrate more in depth on how companies function.

Crime Scene Investigation
Watch out: Working in crime scene investigation is so new that every job available in the field seems to have different requirements to work there.

Thinking you want to collect crime scene samples the way David Caruso's character does in CSI: Miami? In many jurisdictions you have to be a cop, and sometimes you have to be trained as a crime scene technician. But if the science of the lab entices you (and courses like chemistry and quantitative analysis), look for a bachelor's or master's in forensic science.

"Even though one can develop a logical argument as to why people doing a crime scene should have a scientific background, the vast majority of jurisdictions lack the requirement," says Peter DeForest, professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York City.

As technology has advanced in areas like finger printing, blood splatter analysis, crime scene reconstruction and ballistics, the demand for this career has increased dramatically. Peter expects more standard rules will one day apply to this burgeoning area of work, but until then, it's best to check your local area for its hiring guidelines.

Electrical Engineering
Did you know that electrical engineering is number two of the top 10 in-demand degrees, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers? That's why the engineering schools at the University of Buffalo and the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Binghamton are creating the world's first fully online bachelor's degree program in electrical engineering, scheduled to launch fall 2006.

"This particular field was selected because it is one of the largest engineering disciplines and because the program is relatively easier to convert to an online program," explains Charles R. Westgate, dean of the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Binghamton University, State University of New York. In fact, electrical and electronic engineering technicians make up 42 percent of all engineering technicians, with 204,000 people employed who earn a median salary of $42,950.

In addition, explains Westgate, there are a substantial number of potential students who have successfully completed or can complete the associate's degree in engineering, who are seeking an ABET-accredited bachelor's degree program that fits their lifestyles. "They may have economic, geographical, or employment constraints," says Westgate.

An educational program in electrical engineering will help spark your career in which you'll design, develop, test, and manufacture electrical and electronic equipment such as communication equipment, radar, industrial and medical measuring or control devices, navigational equipment, and computers, says the BLS. Electrical and electronic engineering technology also is applied to a wide variety of systems such as communication and process controls. Classes may include those in electric circuits, microprocessors, and digital electronics technology.

As far as job potential, says Westgate, "data indicates steady job growth until at least 2012 arising from newly created positions and positions to replace those retiring."

Information Security
This intriguing, emerging field has much more to do than protect against the damaging situations portrayed on those identity theft commercials. Information security specialists focus on assuring the correctness, reliability, availability, safety, and security for all aspects of information and information systems. Among the areas of expertise within information security: cryptography (the coding and decoding of data and messages); law investigations, where professionals deal with computer crime laws and regulations; rick response and recovery, focusing on processes to identify, measure, and control loss; and security architecture and models, whereby professionals build the infrastructure to maintain data for a complex organization.

Not only are the job responsibilities within information security exciting and integral to today's changing workforce, the demand is enormous. According to the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium [(ISC)2], there is an increasingly vital role and growing stature of information security professionals across a multitude of industries. It showed that the need for new professionals would nearly double worldwide from 2008 to 2.1 million people.

"Businesses recognize that information and information security are critical to delivering their products and services," says Rolf Moulton, CISSP-ISSMP, president and CEO of (ISC)2.

And, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook 2005, employers are searching for workers who are capable of implementing and maintaining "hot" new technologies. Many organizations require professionals hold at least a bachelor's degree in information technology; a master's degree is often required for a director position; a Ph.D. for those aspiring to advanced developer status. Also imperative are certifications, both vendor-specific like or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security (MSCE), as well as vendor-neutral, such as Certified Information Systems Security Professionals (CISSP). Such certifications, says Moulton, "empower professionals throughout their careers."