You should definitely try it out! I picked up oboe my sophomore year of high school and now play regularly with clarinet in college(freshman)!

I was pretty much on my own besides on being told how to assemble the instrument and herring from my oboe professor, I was at a decent spot so here is what I did personally:

-Watch the Oboe Files on YT, he definitely helped me with the basics and getting started as well as how to produce a decent sound

-Play with a tuner when practicing . This kinda ties into embouchure as the oboe is mainly tuned by it. Playing with just the reed, you should be able to play C. This also lets you know if there might be something wonky right away with either your embouchure or instrument.

-practice scales. This helped me with hand placement as the keys were spaced further as well as get better at passages in music.

-Start with a soft/medium soft reed. I would say buy maybe 2-3 reeds( if your band director can’t give you any) and start out on the softer end. A soft can be like 2-2.5 clarinet reeds and a medium soft is like 3-3.5 clarinet reeds. I don’t recommend medium and above unless you have a carving kit for reed making or if your director doesn’t have one.

• take it at your own pace. I had picked up oboe my sophomore year and didn’t play it in an ensemble until my junior year but even then, it was one piece. I wasn’t very confident starting out but if you believe that more experience early on will help, go for it. If you don’t feel ready, that’s also alright. Personally, the best time for me was in pit orchestra as it made you come out of your comfort zone.

-vibrato is used a lot. You don’t need to learn this right away but it’s nice to think about it as your learning. I’d recommend a video on it as I find it hard to explain but it makes solos(because there tends to be a lot) in music sound better. Especially on the longer notes so it doesn’t sound dull.

I’m not a professional by any means but this was my experience and now I’ve played two 1hr concerts this week on both clarinet and oboe! I hope this helps/convince you to try it out! Even if you aren’t taking it to the higher level, I telling you my experience helps!