OpenGL is a lot easier to learn. It's not a pre requisite, but Vulkan is definitely the deep end of shader programming. Honestly if platform is not an issue, I

OpenGL is a lot easier to learn. It's not a pre requisite, but Vulkan is definitely the deep end of shader programming. Honestly if platform is not an issue, I'd recommend people start with Metal because it's the easiest of the "modern" graphics APIs. DirectX 12 is probably second and Vulkan is probably among the hardest to start with. WebGL is also a good way to start though is obviously more limited. Or start with shader graphs in unreal or unity. You can still learn the shader logic and math without worrying about setting up a render context and learning to "code"