Perhaps you have noticed that software development is not the golden ticket to career security it promised to be during our college days. A number of factors have led to job insecurity in our field, not the least of which is the move to offshore outsourcing.

It's actually a good sign, in a way. It's evidence that our field has matured from an art, in which our corporate patrons were forced to rely upon temperamental wizards and geniuses, to a craft, in which the need for artistic inspiration is greatly reduced. When our field was young, development projects were at the mercy of superprogrammers who ventured into uncharted waters with each new application. Now we understand the rules of successful development and we can successfully communicate them to the hordes of moderately talented folk who have flooded the field. The discipline has matured.

That is small comfort, of course, to those of us who are laid off and replaced by cheaper developers working in developing nations.

The move toward outsourcing has led to fierce competition for a dwindling number of openings in project, process, and department management.

You can spend the remainder of your career supervising programmers in another time zone if you like. But if you're looking to remain engaged in the mental gymnastics that brought you into software development in the first place, I have a recommendation for you: Consider becoming a patent agent.

Patent agents are experts who provide advice to companies, lawyers, and courts about specific technology. Our field is increasingly becoming dominated by claims of prior art and patent infringement. Huge business transactions like the recent Google-Motorola Mobility deal are based in large part on the value of patent portfolios. Millions, even billions of dollars are at stake.

Your expertise as an experienced software development professional is of great value to those who plan and execute these deals. You can advise them as to which algorithms and routines to patent, which infringe on existing patents, which external patents would be advantageous to acquire, and more.

You can use your expertise in software development to great advantage. And, according to the Web sites I've consulted, get paid handsomely for it.

You don't become a patent agent overnight. Although you needn't be a lawyer, you do have to pass a sort of specialized bar exam. No one does it without serious study – you'll probably need to take one or more classes.

But if you're worried about your future in a world in which development is increasingly done by faceless contractors from across the globe, consider becoming a patent agent.

You'll find an informative Q&A here: http://www.oppedahl.com/opportunities/ .

Web recommendation: My current pick is the Web site of Charles Petzold. Charles is an old friend, a wonderful writer whose Programming Windows made Windows programming accessible to a generation of C programmers who had never dealt with the complexities of GUIs, multitasking, or DLLs. Charles is still writing – his latest book is Programming Windows Phone 7. Charles's Web site is packed with personal details, general observations about life, tons of source code, and a little taste of Charles's wicked sense of humor. The blog isn't updated as frequently as it should be, but cut the man some slack – New York is unbearably hot this time of year. Maybe he's just on vacation. Anyway, the site (http://www.charlespetzold.com) is quite worthwhile. J.D. says check it out.

J.D. Hildebrand has written hundreds of articles for dozens of publications and online communities dedicated to software development. He recently relocated to a small town outside Belgrade – stop by if your travels take you through Serbia.