( Note this is the beginning of an on going series diving into Vulkan, graphics programming, and how you can gain mastery of the subject. So stay tuned! My target audience is mainly non experts, people that want to get into graphics or want to learn Vulkan. )

Hi, I'm a senior programmer, whatever that means. Twelve years coding, and I never once touched graphics. Sure I may have fixed a crash in some rendering code. Sure I played around with open cv for picking out image features. Sure I picked up an OpenGL bible and went through all the examples. But did I intuitively understand how graphics worked? Not really.

I'm sure my story resonates with many of you reading this. No matter how many times you bang your head against the wall it just doesn't cave. So you go back to the safety of what you know and leave graphics to more "experienced" hands. After all, the race has been run. The winners decided. How will you ever acquire all the arcane knowledge you need to be a "graphics programmer"?

First off, let's address the elephant in the room. Yes graphics programmers have an elevated status in the games industry. If you want to know my thoughts on this matter see my post "There Are No Gods". You can't focus on them, only yourself. You have to ask why you're wanting to learn graphics. Be honest with yourself, and take yourself where you are. Approach learning it like you would anything else. Celebrate your victories, even if they can't compare to "those peoples'" work. That's not the point. In the end if you don't enjoy it, then don't force yourself. There are plenty of other problem spaces for you to get involved with in the gaming world.