Depending on your experience of various other technologies.

You may for instance want to start looking at:

Network + or CCNA (if you need networking concepts understanding) type material.
You should also be familiar with both linux and Windows OS
Your programing experience will be useful.

You can then have a look at the likes of CEH, if you want a broad understanding of security concepts.

Perhaps eCPPT if you feel you have the basics under your belt and want to focus more on penetration testing techniques.

Hopefully this helps. There are a number of other discussions in these boards around certification.

Welcome! if you are entirely new to security and want to get down the basics with the terms that go with it, start here: http://www.hackerhighschool.org/ i know it sounds childlike (as it should its for "kids") but they got it pretty good covered! next find a field of interest and go explore! if your skill is a little higher i can recommend CEH, like rabray. Oh and if you have any questions google cant answer, perhaps we can! so feel free to ask!

Rabray, would be glad to get any useful link for CCNA, Network+. Thanks.