[Cory]

I started with Inventor, used it for 4 or 5 years, switched to Solidworks, was instantly more productive, probably only took a few weeks to get fully up to speed. Used Solidworks for the last 6 or so years, loved it.

We switched from Solidworks to Inventor at work last week...it has not been a happy transition. Going back to Inventor is incredibly frustrating. Things take more clicks, are convoluted, or just function in a manner that I do not find logical. The user interface is all over the place and requires clicking through too many tabs for things that should be available at all times (for example, the mini toolbar under the actual toolbar in SW that has all the 'view' tools).

I would highly recommend Solidworks, as it is free, more widely used in industry than Inventor, and just easier to use.