What is the highest paid programming profession?

Basically what I'm looking for is, what programming languages pay the most? I'm already going into programming, so I figure, why not try to learn the one with the highest payout while I'm at it? =P In addition, I'm pretty good with computers, what are some high paying non-programming related jobs?

What is the highest paid programming profession?
It depends on how good you are at it, and how long you have been doing it. If you have an impressive portfolio of work to show people, you will be able to get very high paying jobs in almost any language. For example, one of my friends recently went out to work for Facebook, using PHP. He gets paid much higher than the industry average, and he got the job because he is in the top tiers of PHP programmers. I work for a major bank, and I use .NET. I also get paid much higher than the industry average, because I am in the top tiers of .NET programmers. So in short, you should find the programming paradigm which suits your own personal style, and work at it until you excel.





If you are looking for a fast turnaround though, I would recommend .NET. That is very hot right now, so even entry-level .NET programmers are paid relatively well. However, that may change; 2 years from now it could be something completely different.





Response to your edit:





I still recommend a popular language like C# in .NET, but if you can also learn something like Cobol, and learn it very well, you have a chance at netting a very high-paying position because dead/dying languages are still in use in major enterprise mainframe environments, and the people who wrote the applications are retiring. I wouldn't bet the farm on it, but if you like learning languages in your spare time, it could be worth the effort.
Reply:The highest paid programmers are easily control systems engineers, because they cover all aspects of the job. The code, the hardware, and making them work together.
Reply:The highest paid programmers are the ones who "get" programming; the ones who choose the right language to get the job done (i.e. know far more than one language); the ones who think first, code second; the ones who recognize the SCIENCE behind Computer Science and/or the ENGINEERING behind software development.





Quite often, these people are called "software architects"...they have been exposed to lots of problems, lots of environments (programming, problem spaces, operating systems, application environments, etc...).





The highest paying non-programming jobs are corporate presidents and CEOs. These folks, assuming they come from a technology background (which is quite often not the case), stop thinking about "programming problems" and more about "business problems" (more specifically, about "sales problems").
Reply:information and technology. "IT" get into companies and earn in green dollars !
Reply:The best answer would be game programming... I hope you have heard about John Carmack and ID games.... make a search and learn more about a team of just 17 which is still making millions each month.