Welcome to the forum, @cox.michael.barnell!
I’m sorry your initial experience — under admittedly challenging circumstances! — has been frustrating. FWIW, I was a Finale user for 32 years before switching to Dorico just two years ago. Like you, I found it to be a big shift.
If you haven’t explored these yet, I definitely recommend doing so. They have helped me really get a handle on the bigger-picture differences between the two:
And as @dan_kreider rightly points out, you will find that you’re incredibly supported here in the forum, not just by fellow users but by members of the Dorico team.