^ Programming these days is seen as an aside to main certifications required for the type of role you're looking at. CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) is seen in the same vein as the A+ certification. Ideally you want to be aiming towards ISO127001, NIST, COBIT, CyberArk, SSDLC etc. Even then most hiring is going to be dependent on having a Masters degree in Software Engineering/PhD in Computer Forensics, or 2 to 3 years in some kind of Data Protection /PFI investigation role. I think you're running before you're walking.
I have a personal friend who works at Westpoint Specialist Recruitment, I could put you in touch if you were interested.
Oh yeah don't get me wrong mate I'm not expecting to get that kind of job tomorrow. I'm saying it's my ultimate career goal. For now I'm focusing on learning more about programming and networking. But netsec is my primary
interest.
I've looked into the certs and spoken to some experts in the industry, from how I understand it, it's all about Cisco for getting a foot on the ladder of netsec.
Unfortunately I don't see myself getting a master's. Certs are no problem. But a master's is.
I tell you what though, a lot of the guys I know in IT who are in like sysadmin or programming roles are self-taught. Same goes for the hacking end, as a lot of them were black/grey hat before they turned legit so are often self-taught, although they still get certs to put on their CV's of course.
Don't forget though by the time I get anywhere close to this I will have years of good experience down on my CV. If there's one thing I can see about IT, it's that experience is valued a lot more highly than most professions. That's why getting my foot in the door was so hard too. But finally I found a way (hopefully, if I get this).
Thanks for the info though mate I will look up each of the certs you listed. And yeah if you could put me in touch with someone I could speak to so I know what to expect I would appreciate that man. Like I said this is an ultimate career goal, not expecting to get there tomorrow, but a process and I hope it's where my career leads.
Frankly even if I find myself unable to get employed in netsec, I can still make good money in other areas of IT while on the side making money off bug bounties.