here's a little tidbit: osx has way way better drive indexing than windows, so if you're a decent typist you might want to get in the habbit of using the command+spacebar shortcut to bring up spotlight and simply start typing the name of the app you want to open (or anything else you want) and hit enter when it shows up. I don't keep anything in the dock because if you get the hang of it this is the fastest way to open anything.
Once you have something open, definitely get the hang of using the three-finger swipe up and down to switch between apps.