SolidWorks is more like running a virtual machine shop. It's a process of building up and then cutting away, until my part is sitting in in virtual space.
You're right; it's an entirely different way of designing.
I'm a huge fan of it.
In prior years I designed and built a few houses (living in the last one I built). I had a CAD program and learned to use it well. But 3D virtual design is a whole nother animal. I like it because it fits the mental imagery process I already used in designing & building houses.
I have one more house I’ve designed (I always draw up vellums with pencil and rule before starting a building project), but it isn’t likely I’ll ever build it. Maybe I’ll build it with a 3D printer at drawing scale! I had incorporated neat stuff that I learned I would like to have in a home, like the master bedroom closet has a doorway to the laundry room. Oh well, we can’t have everything we dream of ...
Man, that is a profound comment. I learned mechanical drafting in the "t-square and triangles" era, and have been doing 2D designs for almost forty years now. I've been using 2D CAD for about 15 years (couldn't afford Autocad), and am working to make the shift to the solid model route....but I've been doing 2D for SO LONG that I am finding it a hard slog. I use Turbocad Pro and have been for a long time. Solidworks it is not....but then it only costs about 1/4 as much (less if you buy when they are coming out with an upgrade).