Knowing what I know now, I would say Blender is a lot easier to learn and master than 3dsMax or Maya. Blender does have some quirks that 3dsMax does easier like grouping vs collections but you can just use add-ons to do the same things. I haven’t really found anything lacking with Blender that made me want to go back to Max. I’m happy to be rid of that software and just Autodesk in general.

I work in Architecture and fully transitioned our firm from using 3dsMax and Vray with Blender just before the pandemic started. Haven’t looked back ever since. Blender does a lot of things but for the most part, it’s an alternative to any mesh based 3d modeling and sculpting program. E.g. 3dsMax, Maya, C4D, Zbrush, etc.

I think it’s criminal that Blender isn’t even mentioned there.