anyone have experience?

I'm looking for advice from anyone in the programming field. I'm going to be graduating in about a year. I've taken classes in VB, Java, and C++. And I'm most comfortable with VB, as I do some programs when I'm at home. However, I always hear horror stories about how hard it is to get into the field, and how once you have a job if you get behind on a project you're probably going to get fired. Makes it seem like there is no job security. I've never worked in the computer industry, the most I've done is fixing odd jobs for anyone I know (virus', printers, spyware, etc). But when I think about graduating and going out in the field I'm very apprehensive. What can I look forward to, or what should I know about the industry. Thanks to anyone who replies, hopefully it will calm my fears.