You can make your own choice on what software to use, there are good free and paid alternatives, but it sometimes helps to understand what to look for in your software. The quickest way to do that is to run through a few short tutorials on Designing for the Laser, then you can make a good choice, and focus on learning how to accomplish the tasks in that program.
There’s a list of getting started tutorials here, along with the Glowforge training, that will really speed things up for you.
(Oh and by the way, I came over from the digital cutter world. Once you understand one program, additional ones are very easy to pick up quickly. It’s not going to take you long.)