Amazing 3Ds Max Video by PANTURAL =] 

***** Yes, VR. I would say it requires a lot of time to it however. But it's better than mopping floors in a way.

***** If you freelance, and you are asked to model stuff that are not game development specific, for example interiors and architecture, you use the best 3D suite you would know and have power of ( I use Blender because of the amount of free tutorials, its huge, you would not believe). When you go inside other game studios or 3D studios then they might use "giants" like Autodesk, in which they usually have volume licensing and get the latest stuff and then you would work in a team who also use the same software suite. I would say build the skill in blender, and then the modeling knowledge transfers over to other 3D programs (work flows are different, but it's all 3D modeling at the end) like Maya and 3DS max (In which by the way, 3DS Max has been negleted by Autodesk lately, not much, but a little). Dedicated work is what really counts because it's somewhat of a competitive industry but it does not mean one should not go out there and do it.