IMHO: don't lose your time with fixed-function pipeline (I've lost 6 months studying that) because your lines of codes will grow exponentially, and with shaders, you will learn interesting stuffs at the same time knowing that you are in the right way of learning OpenGL. Also, never hardcode geometry (use OBJ models or something for the job).
Thanks for the advice and i do know the shaders are highly important in modern GL but if i am making a rendering engine for a game, i would also have to use the pipeline with shaders if i recall correctly? Or would i mostly use shaders? I am still quite new so sorry if these questions are typical or overused.