In Blender it's the other way round, that's why I was a bit confused. But shouldn't be a big problem to get used to it.
i think blender and surveyors (and max and xsi too?) are backwards 
in 2d space x always goes right, and y always goes up, so it makes sense (at least to me) for z to go towards you
that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"
Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D