I would put programming up there with professions such as * engineer, lawyer and doctor, especially after including student debt. If you are average, you will have a spectacularly average career and may have to downsize greatly during poor job markets. If you are below average, you may float by in good years, and fall spectacularly when you can’t find work during bad years. If you are well above average, you will thrive regardless of the job market.
How good you are as a software engineer will depend heavily on (at least) these three things:
1. Do you enjoy it? If you don’t enjoy it, you will very quickly fall behind, quite likely before you even finish school.
2. Are you willing to work at it? If you aren’t willing to put in the time and effort, you will also fail spectacularly.
3. How smart are you? A strong work ethic can put someone of below average intelligence above someone of mediocre work ethic and average ability.
It may even put you on par with someone of high intelligence and a relatively weak work ethic. However, at the end of the day, you will still be behind those of average and above average intelligence. At the end of the day, 50% of people will be below the median.
Ultimately, 1 and 2 matter far more than 3. Choose a career path which has good job opportunities and which you enjoy and are willing to work at and all else will follow. Software engineer is one such profession and there will always be a demand for talented software engineers. What nobody can promise is that the software engineer market won’t look like the law market today so from a purely financial perspective, I don’t see much advantage or disadvantage in choosing to become a software engineer over another type of engineer or a doctor or a lawyer.