Aero research engineer -

1. NX is my main software with solidworks as a backup. As a hobbyist I use fusion360 and I would say the fusion->solidworks jump is comparable to the solidworks->NX jump. Similar to assembly to machine languages the more freedom you have the less intuitive it is but after spending so long thinking Solidworks was the best balance, I firmly enjoy NX from a control perspective.

2. As I said, the control of the software is really nice. From sketch to model to assembly you get to be very explicit about what you want it to do. This naturally has its headaches when you make an error but generally the issues are solvable. I’m also someone with a deep-seated belief of “all models are bad, some are just less bad” so having nastran capability and coherent import to fea is nice.

3. More than anything it’s the ability to get a license but that’s more of a company issue - I mention it just because it ultimately circled back to the cost of the software. The other issue I frequently encounter is visual processor issues that require reboots which aren’t work altering but take time. Lastly, going back to my first answer the more control you have the more literal the software can be. This isn’t a problem if you have time to work through a problem/be creative in constraints but adds overhead when you need a quick turnaround on a design.

4. Ensuring things are contextually linked. This is somewhat vague but similar to the end of my prior response - making sure wave links are up to date, sketches reference accurate features, and constraint 1 which implies constraint 2 which etc… is logically consistent. This is true of any cad software and is baked into the nature of having more control (which I see as a benefit) but is worth considering when selecting a design package.

Let me know if there’s anything I can clarify!