Which is better for beginners, Blender or Maya?
I just started to learn about 3D modeling, Should I start learning 3D modeling and animation with a blender first then going to Maya or should I start with Maya from the beginning? Is there a huge difference between the two?
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Thing is, you really don't need to start with Maya though. You could easily start with Blender and use the Industry Standard Keymap instead. Most of the concepts you pick up will be the same. I personally went from Maya to Modo to Blender, and other than getting familiar with the interface, it was largely the same approach for everything. You won't be hurting yourself too much if you start with Blender (to learn the concepts), just do not, whatever you do, use the default keymap in Blender. It will just build muscle memory towards a very niche control scheme that won't help you pick up other software easily.
If you are a student or educator, you can get a free version of Maya easily. https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/featured
After a while, you'll probably be proficient in several packages anyway because once you know your job, you only have to learn how to do it with a different interface getting in the way.
That doesn't mean you can't drive in the regular lanes in a pretty nice car but if you want to do this as a job, then it will be incredibly helpful to be very comfortable with whatever those studios are using.
You can be unfamiliar with the software they use and still land a job, but there has to be something that puts you above everyone else that is preforming at the required level and already knows the software. To deal with the headache of training a person two things have to happen...
1) They have to have the right mindset. No one is going to voluntarily pull a toddler kicking and screaming through a grocery store while they pitch a fit. Accept that you'll have a rough time, keep your bitching to yourself and know it will get better faster if you don't resist the growth.
2) The talent displayed must be of an insane caliber, that they'll deal with the hit to production and allow for a longer ramp up time.
As far as learning, I don't think it matters a whole lot, because the concepts and ideas flow between all of the software packages. They roughly do the same things just in different ways. Some software has been battle tested in production settings over many years and it has been refined and molded by that experience. Some software has particularly quick and flexible ways to work and deal with problems where others might just brute force a particular method in a "hope you get it right" kind of way.
So really, you should look at where you want to work, what you want to make, how it's made and start working with the tools that will get you there.
Whichever you pick, don't become one of those ardent followers that is not willing to learn new software or adapt as things change, because they will. We're talking about 30-40-50 years in a particular field, it's going to change and you will need to adapt. Being one of those people that only fly one flag or worse talk crap about other software is going to shorten that career to 5-10 years, if you even manage to land a job in the first place. Nothing is worse than having to work along side someone who endlessly complains about what they're working.
Speaking for the software itself Maya has an organized interface and modeling is vey fast. It's heavily based on context menus and hotkeys for the main tools.
Basically every tool has its own context menu and this allows you to work full screen and to be very fast at modeling. Just think that you can reset the pivot by using a gesture. Hold down D key ( or press 1 time ) that enable the pivot translation and then hold down the right mouse button, a context menu will appear, slide down the mouse and bam, pivot reset to the origin of the mesh. You don't even need to wait for the menu to appear if you want.
For non commercial use you can download the free student version. If you are not in school anymore simply insert the high school or university you used to go. I made my Autodesk student account when i was in high school and now that i'm 23 it's still valid.
If you doing characters I think dabbling into rig and animation will help you understand the technical considerations of the job.more fully as well.
They write Maya/3ds max because their pipeline is based around one of the 2 and they are quiete similar interface and tools wise because they are both Autodesk so it's easier to go from Maya to 3ds max instead of Blender to Maya. They both have their own quirk but the "Autodesk feeling" is still there.
They could also have both softwares in the studio. It's not uncommon for big companies.
Also many game companies in their requirements write "Good knowledge of Maya required" without any other choice. VFX studios are even more strict.
Does this mean that you can't get a job if you use Blender ? No, however you will have less chance compared to an equal good artist using Maya and all the other softwares that the company states in their requirements.
With Maya being free for non commercial use there is literally no reason for not using it. If you don't like the software you should still learn it, make a couple of artworks to demonstrate that you know how to use it and then go back to your favourite software.
For Blender been easier as you said it's a personal opinion. In my case i found that Maya is what i like the most so it's easier for me and i'm also way faster than Blender because the workflow is structured in a way that every tool has shortcuts and quick menus that allows you to model very fast without any thirdy party plugins.
Maya also has some advanced tools and features that saves a lot of time while preventing headaches. You can have them in Blender too but you must rely on external plugins and even in that case most of them are not at the level of Maya.
Some examples: UV tools, circularize tool, if you scale a model in Blender while in object mode you must remember to freeze transformations while in Maya it doesn't matter because the tools ( like the extrude ) are agnostic to it, Arnold ( if you render offline ) and other stuff.
Also if you want to use Maya outside the job and you are a modeler/animator you can simply use Maya LT that's only 318 € per year, Maya Indie or the free student version if you don't do commercial works.
I'm a Maya LT user at the moment because i do commercial works.