I switched from QWERTY to Dvorak a long time ago, a few years after learning to touch type. Does it make me more efficient on my own computer? Probably slightly -- Dvorak really is a well-designed keyboard layout, but it's impossible to know whether my WPM is any higher than it would've been on QWERTY. However, I make way more mistakes and type way more slowly whenever I sit down at a QWERTY keyboard. I had to re-learn how to touchtype QWERTY after switching to Dvorak, and my skill never got back to the same level. It also leads to extra inconvenience every time I lend my computer to someone else, install a new OS, etc.
I think this means my average typing speed (weighted average of the time spent at Dvorak keyboards + QWERTY keyboards) is probably flat or possibly lower than if I had just stuck with QWERTY. When combined with all the effort I spent learning Dvorak, re-learning QWERTY, and making many mistakes in the early years, I think my lifetime productivity is probably even lower. I don't recommend that people switch, even if I think Dvorak really is a better layout.
I switched from QWERTY to Dvorak a long time ago, a few years after learning to touch type. Does it make me more efficient on my own computer? Probably slightly -- Dvorak really is a well-designed keyboard layout, but it's impossible to know whether my WPM is any higher than it would've been on QWERTY. However, I make way more mistakes and type way more slowly whenever I sit down at a QWERTY keyboard. I had to re-learn how to touchtype QWERTY after switching to Dvorak, and my skill never got back to the same level. It also leads to extra inconvenience every time I lend my computer to someone else, install a new OS, etc.
I think this means my average typing speed (weighted average of the time spent at Dvorak keyboards + QWERTY keyboards) is probably flat or possibly lower than if I had just stuck with QWERTY. When combined with all the effort I spent learning Dvorak, re-learning QWERTY, and making many mistakes in the early years, I think my lifetime productivity is probably even lower. I don't recommend that people switch, even if I think Dvorak really is a better layout.