If any of your programs turn out to be commonly used to commit computer crimes, you are history. Wait, wait, you are saying. Most hacker tools, even if they are primarily used to commit crimes, are also educational. Certainly if you want to become a sysadmin someday you will need to learn how these programs work. Sigh, you may as well learn the truth.
Shell accounts are kind of like hacker training wheels.
They are OK for beginner stuff. But to become a serious hacker, you either need to find an ISP run by hackers who will accept you and let you do all sorts of suspicious things right under their nose. Or you can install some form of Unix on your home computer. If you have Unix on your home computer and use a PPP connection to get into the Internet, your ISP is much less likely to snoop on you. Or try making friends with your sysadmin and explaining what you are doing.