yes, Maya does help...it helped me SOOOO much. I love the program. I dont know where your area of interest is but I can offer a bit of advice and that is to try to learn both Max and Maya as much as you can. If what you want to do is closely related to what I do (pre viz work), youll want some hardcore Max skills (from what Ive found its probably about 85% Max in my field). But I still love Maya and will always use it even if I cant use it professionally right now.