I'm learning Conquest and Netrunner now. I kind of half-understand Conquest now, and as for Netrunner, lol. One day. So this is very relevant to me.
I would compare the experience to being lost in a class, failing the first test, but just hoping you'll be able to learn enough by semester's end to pass. It's not easy, explaining all the ways things influence each other and cross-contribute. But thinking about it in a structured way can only help.
My nephew and I taught ourselves Netrunner by reading through the rulebook and it was tough. Fortunately we were at Dicetower East and there were plenty of folks who stopped by to ask if we needed help (so many people excited to see Netrunner lol).
Overall if you just run a few games you will pick it up as you think through the implications of rules. My main complaint is that the recommended starter decks hide several mechanics so you end up reading all these rules that dont even apply at first.
We bought Netrunner because it looked amazing, but we laboured through as many of the rules as we could stomach before putting it away without playing. That was 10 years ago. We've haven't had the energy to try again yet.
Piggybacking off what JamesSwift said, Netrunner seems like a game where you try to understand the rules, pause (or give up), go to an in-person meetup, get 'tutored' to really learn, then wait again for however long and try again to learn the rules. In my case it will probably be about 80% in-person learning and 20% on my own studying the rules at home.
I would compare the experience to being lost in a class, failing the first test, but just hoping you'll be able to learn enough by semester's end to pass. It's not easy, explaining all the ways things influence each other and cross-contribute. But thinking about it in a structured way can only help.