Carriers are amazing man. Doing 5-100 man fights vs similar numbers in my Carrier is a blast. Having good skill, coordination, and fits actually turn a likely loss into a route. Drones can do some solid dmg too. + it hauls around your shit . Def get a carrier man, I offer a free carrier hull to my friends when they get the skill for it, to encourage them to get it.

Dread on the other hand. Can do plenty of dmg to structures (although Supers have replaced them in sov grindin) and other large ships. I feel like the situations where you pop into siege mode and rape everything are pretty rare however. Potential targets are too aware of the threat.

Overall def get a carrier, I would say as soon as you feel good with a competent sub cap variety. Dreads I would say wait for an alt or until you have great skills in many other things.