--- title: "What To Learn To Be A Graphics Programmer" url: https://daily.dev/posts/what-to-learn-to-be-a-graphics-programmer-sivi9qcqv source_url: https://blog.demofox.org/2026/07/01/what-to-learn-to-be-a-graphics-programmer type: article source: "Bottom of the sea" published: 2026-07-01T17:27:22.782Z updated: 2026-07-01T17:27:43.634Z tags: ["math", "graphics-programming"] reading_time: 4 upvotes: 1 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What To Learn To Be A Graphics Programmer **[Bottom of the sea](https://daily.dev/sources/demofox)** · 4 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A practical guide for aspiring graphics programmers covering what to learn to become hireable. Graphics programming is framed as two parallel tracks: the CPU side (explicit APIs like DirectX 12, Vulkan, Metal) and the GPU side (lighting math, shading, shadows, ambient occlusion, post-processing). Recommended learning resources include 'Ray Tracing in One Weekend' for path tracing, learnopengl.com for PBR theory, the Filament documentation for deeper PBR, and the PBRT book. Required math is manageable — linear algebra, basic trigonometry, and some calculus — while knowledge of standard data structures and algorithms is also advised. The author briefly notes skepticism about LLM hype but acknowledges ML has a place in the toolbox. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Software rendering in 500 lines of bare C\+\+](https://daily.dev/posts/software-rendering-in-500-lines-of-bare-c--8zxoc44yj) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Resources](https://daily.dev/posts/resources-xcd3k4zsv) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#math](https://daily.dev/tags/math), [#graphics-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/graphics-programming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/what-to-learn-to-be-a-graphics-programmer-sivi9qcqv)