The point is, I'm going the networking/security cert route
I'm not trying to jump on the bandwagon or nothing, but take it from someone who has trained in the very same field you plan on going into. you will dabble in command line and command driven input. programming is not separate from IT as you'll learn that
every device with a cpu is considered a computer and
every computer is considered a 'dumb-machine'. it knows and does absolutely nothing without a program. your OS is a very large and intricate program.
Going any route in IT will cross you into other paths of IT. and you better understand that once you are hired as IT, you will do whatever the CTO/CSO deem is within your qualified realm of knowledge. get out of the mind set that you will only be doing networking/security.
Some security certs (such as the CEH) will not be valid without certain prerequisites being met which is usually time in the field which equals out to experience. and think about this, just for "shyt's and giggles"....
What if you learned a programming language, and were able to code your own security programs? in effect, you would either be making your skills extremely marketable or securing whatever job you had because you have that extra IT skill.
/SoapBox
*Edited due to Spelling and Grammar errors.