I agree with p that web programming is "the bottom of the barrel," but that's where I lurk and it pays extremely well. I think you'll get more opportunity for variety as a web developer than as a software developer. I code in Java, JavaScript, ColdFusion, ASP(VB), PHP, Python, ActionScript and even have (rare) opportunities to use C, one of the first languages I learned at University and still one I love dearly.

And as senior web developer for a mid-sized financial institution, I'm lucky in that I can choose to do things *other* than produce code...I've had the opportunity to plan and create Flash movies, shoot and edit digital video, design and create web graphics and animation (my first degree, in design, still comes in handy). The option of getting away from code for a while, I find, is quite important to me. Every now and then I'll spend a day--or even a week--with my nose in Photoshop or Flash instead of an IDE, and that can be very refreshing.

As for C#, it's going to be big because MS will not stop until it *is* big. MS has staked its reputation on .NET, and so imho there's no way it'll fail. They'll simply make it work.

The fact that C#, Java, C and C++ have so many fundamental similarities bodes well for anyone who learns any of them...the programming mindset is what's important--creative problem solving, not syntax, is what makes a successful developer, imho. If you know one of those languages well, learning another of them is pretty easy.

In the end, how successful you are depends, as we all know, on how hard you go after your goal. Give it your all, give it some time, and you'll do fine.