First, read the answer to What is a hacker?
If you would like to become a good programmer Eric S. Raymond has written a piece called How To Become A Hacker that you might want to read.
Similarly, you might want to read well known hacker and entrepreneur Paul Graham's excellent advice on what to study in college to become a good hacker.
Paul has also written an interesting essay on what makes a good programmer so good.
The famous Lisp hacker Peter Norvig, now Director of Research at Google, has written a remarkable piece called Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years that is a must-read.
You might also be interested in reading How To Ask Questions The Smart Way which may be very valuable advice when you start asking questions on mailing lists, newsgroups and other fora in your new life as a programmer or hardware jockey.