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by kafkaesq 3754 days ago
First off, "genius" talent is by no means required.

Second, it should be something you really, really like doing. Like music is to a musician (or an audiophile), cooking (and watching people get off on your creations) is to a chef, sports training is to an athlete, etc.

And third, like anything else of true value in this life -- it will take a significant amount of time; in particular devoted to practice (and very importantly, play), especially solving (often obscure-seeming) problems on your own, just to scratch an itch, or to know that you can.

Easily a few thousand hours to attain what's called "mathematical maturity"[1], and probably somewhere on the order of the fabled 10,000 to obtain what might be called true expertise in the field. Which should (by itself) be no obstacle, if it's something you're really, really, really into.

Just like any other field, basically.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_maturity