"... The fact that I am a programming novice sometimes makes me think I will never be able to achieve what I just said above. ..."

start here with "How To Become A Hacker" ~ http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

    To follow the path:
    look to the master,
    follow the master,
    walk with the master,
    see through the master,
    become the master.

then continue here "The Art of Unix Programming" ~ http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/