Learning pinyin isn't optional. The #1 reason for learning pinyin is you can look up the pronunciation of a character and know exactly how it's supposed to be pronounced. If you don't learn pinyin (or bopomofo) you will need to ask someone to pronounce each and every character for you, or use software that does it.

Should you learn pinyin first?

Many Chinese learners chose learn pinyin first,but notlearn Chinese pinyin and Chinese character together. Because Chinese pinyin is a very easy part and even easier than English learning, and pinyin can help Chinese learners'pronounce. But Chinese characters is a very hard part in Chinese learning.

Can you learn Chinese without pinyin?

In short, you don't need Pinyin to look words up anymore. The only reason to use Pinyin is as a pronunciation reference, or as a memory aid for spoken language in case your goal is not to learn to read Chinese characters, at least not for the moment.