There are a surprising number of comments here suggesting starting with playing with or working on ERP software. That is a great way to crush any sense of joy or curiosity you may have about the idea of manufacturing.
Start by physically building something, then layer in processes to be able to build things repeatedly, and then finally layer in ERP software to manage those processes.
On physically building something, if you’re starting from software knowledge, one way to go is to tinker with a microcontroller project using development boards and then spin your own board using KiCAD and design an enclosure with FreeCAD. Just navigating the process of sourcing parts and managing fabrication at hobby scale will let you start to build context and understand tradeoffs.
Please use commercial CAD to design stuff - FreeCAD as you first CAD will tend to do to your love of CAD what ERP will do to your love of manufacturing.
(CAD is one of the areas where the open source revolution has not yet happened. Martyring ourselves on the cause of FreeCAD won't help that happen, unless we're also prepared to dive into its code base, which is unfortunately chaotic and stagnant)
Some better options:
1) OnShape has a free offering for hobbyists. It's a solid parametric modelling engine excellent for mechanical designs. It also has acceptable freeform modeling capabilities. The free version is good for open source and learning, but all your designs are public. The paid version is somewhat hefty at $1500/yr, and is required for commercial projects and private designs.
2) Rhino3D has a free 90 day trial, and a comparatively low price ($1000, one time). While it's clunky for traditional parametric mechanical design, it has freeform surface modelling capabilities that make it great for styled product designs, and can compete with much more expensive surfacing software like Autodesk Alias. For simple enclosures it's fine. It also has the Grasshopper graphical programming system, which let's you create beautiful algorithmically generated designs which are useful for artistic work, product customization, and modern architectural designs. Finally, the ShapeDiver service lets you use Rhino/Grasshopper designs for mass customization products online, where the customer can change the parameters that generate the product, and preview the design in real-time.
Disclosure: I own a product design firm built on top of plain old Rhino. I don't use onshape, grashopper, or shapediver in my business operations, but would if I had a business need. I'm not affiliated with these companies.
That is fair and probably the right approach for mechanical CAD. For schematic and layout, KiCAD actually has become a joy to use over the last few releases. There are certainly still some weirdnesses and quality of life issues against something like Altium, but the team seems to be rapidly closing the usability gap.
I agree about KiCAD for schematics and physical layout.
I get the sense this is because altium designer and Autodesk eagle have inexplicably awful UX that's basically stuck in the 80s, and they haven't really improved in what feels like 20 years. But during that time, KiCAD has been making slow but diligent progress towards feature parity.
That makes KiCAD a victory for open source CAD. I hadn't realized that! That gives me hope for other kinds of CAD!
When I say OSS CAD has not had its day, I should now specify that I mean mechanical CAD, NURBS surfacing, and BIM.
My theory is those have evolved so much in the last 20 years, in ways that required such heavy investment, that the OSS community has not been able to catch up.
Thanks for your remark! Much love and support for the KiCAD community!
Start by physically building something, then layer in processes to be able to build things repeatedly, and then finally layer in ERP software to manage those processes.
On physically building something, if you’re starting from software knowledge, one way to go is to tinker with a microcontroller project using development boards and then spin your own board using KiCAD and design an enclosure with FreeCAD. Just navigating the process of sourcing parts and managing fabrication at hobby scale will let you start to build context and understand tradeoffs.