[pseudostem]

I have a slightly orthogonal take.

I am not a programmer (yet). A long time ago, I wanted to get into photography. I researched equipment, effects, lighting, etc. Then I happened upon a blog run by a photographer.

His advice - Are you creative enough to know the subject, what to photograph, what kind of results you want? If yes, you could always start with an iPhone and once you hit limitations, you could augment it with equipment which you build over time. He did cite some great examples of flickr photography done on iPhones and I was sold to the idea.

IMO from a layman's perspective, we should (try to) perfect our trade, tools we choose later to whatever suits our style.