I think its a great question.. and I am kind of struggling with not asking this before learning a post processing software. Here is my story...
I got my hands early on Pentax DCU worked like a charm but was cumbersome on a volume of images.. so I switched to the Photodirector (got it free at that time on a rebate) and then learned it pretty quickly as it was quiet intuitive and fast. But then I thought may be I should use light room for the work that I sell and then jump shipped again to LR version that apparently does not support K-1 (PEF). So I had resistance but then I started using DNG and now struggling with LR interface quiet a bit. Apart from cloudified offering LR is a little clumsy to use. Also I found out eventually that I could do everything in PhotoDirector that I could do in LightRoom (Per my daily needs) so I keep using PD often despite having LR. LR is also slower than PD. Now I do not know about the JPEG rendering engine intricacies between the 2, so someone needs to shed some light on that. I think standalone versions of LR are still being offered although they will cease to exist soon if not sooner.
I have been meaning to use RawTherapee but looks like I have stuff that I still need to learn in LR before switching to another software and for all you know LR is the last piece of software I may need to learn given its popularity and the community support it has. So yes.. wait to hear from a few folks here before you make your choice and deep dive into it. The chance are you will end up using more the software you learn first (whether it is good or bad).
Last edited by shardulm; 12-27-2017 at 01:23 PM.