Arnold, I don't reckon I fall into the novice category of DCS users as I've been using it off and on since it first debuted around 20 years ago now. Nevertheless, nearly every time I use DCS it's always an adventure of sorts, and I will say unapologetically there's always something that goes amiss for me, though undoubtedly sometimes its operator error. In my experience the simpler the layout the better DCS works...there's so many variables on factors that effect the system.
Just today I was building a lashup using DCS...it took me a while but it kind of all comes back as I went through the buttons and scrolling, etc.