[jmfldn]

I would go further. Using monads, or any functional programming concept that you'll encounter in the wild, requires zero category theory. I would actively warn anyone against learning category theory for day-to-day use of FP. Learn it if you're interested in it for its own sake sure, it's a great maths subject, but it's basically irrelevant for most programmers imho and a distraction if you're trying to get a simple practical understanding.