Why not start with some lowkey Arduino or Raspberry Pi Pico projects?

I found the cost (five years ago) was what put me off, but it only took me a few hours to get up and running with a very simple led flashing project.

Then life got in the way, but simple temperature sensors, light sensors, etc. can make for some interesting quality-of-life projects.

Edit: For additional context, it was a self-driven project (no instructions). Incredibly easy to get into.

Getting a simpler CUDA program running took me longer; and I gave up altogether on OpenCL after spending a frustrating 12 hours.