Are programmers still in demand?

i am planning to go to school this September to study computer programming, i love being a round computers but so far don't know a lot about the programming industry, i would like to become a software engineer in the end, maybe games developing or much more than that i don't want to limit my self, what i am afraid of is whether or not i will be able to find a job in this day and age, or should i go with electronics or mechanical engineering. i don't want to mess this up, i just want a education that i can move around with, something that i can free lance if i chose. and what about the job market in Canada and the USA, r programming jobs good to go there. one more thing, if i want to be somewhat of an hacker do i really need to know and computer languages. by hacker i mean ethical.