OpenSCAD is completely prorgammatic. You write scripts to generate solids and manipulate them. There is no graphical editing. With something like solidworks most of your work is done visually on drawings.<p>I really enjoy cubify design which is a cheap alternative to solidworks. I have designed a ton of stuff with it.<p>They both have their virtues. I use both for designing my 3d models depending on what I need. I think being experienced in both will make you better on each piece of software.