A bit of extra trivia:

The tar name comes from "Tape Archive" and references the original UNIX backup program designed to write to that sort of IO hardware.

Why should Windows users know this? If you're the sort of user who can really make use of that sort of archive (or the sort of files it's likely to contain), I think you're safely past the point where you'd need help with archives. Winzip, really?

Also, uncompressing (technically, the tar isn't compressed) a tar isn't risky if it's corrupt, you'd still have exactly what you started with.... a corrupted archive; I fail to see the risk there. We can say possibly that utilizing tar can be risky because of symbolic link handling or absolute paths (although default behavior of utilities has kept those mostly safe for the past decade)... but realistically if you're opening a file of any sort from a source that can't be trusted you've already fucked up in terms of security.

As I said, that portion of the degree can be made up (probably surpassed significantly) with a CCNA/P.

Why not both? Because it's a waste of money and time.

The most important thing is going to be the fundamentals... Logic and flow control doesn't vary much between languages. Things like "should I use file system storage or a database for this portion?" and how to properly implement GUI stuff without causing extra overhead tend to be more important in the long run. More advanced aspects of various languages can be picked up as you go. I'd probably go advanced with a single language... C#, Java, or C++... just to have something to really show a prospective employer.

Also, please learn to fucking document everything you do... code comments, proper labels, diagrams, etc.... because I can tell you from experience that it's not fun to diagnose problems with undocumented code filled with random workarounds 15 years after the developer was fired.

I'd drop the "networking" major... that entire portion of the degree can be made up with a couple classes and CCNA/P certification.

Depends on what I'm doing. If I just need to automate something... Python or a simple Bash script. If I have to write a GUI application, C#. (I don't know anything other than point and click Windows Forms.)