Before dbt, I didn't even really think about structuring how I'd be running my queries. My experience with it has been - it's made it clear to me what has been sub-optimally laid out. Organize my fact tables by subject, adopt a common schema before applying business logic, utilize re-usable views instead of copy-pasting CTEs, etc.

And I like its tight git integration. The alternative, quite often, is a folder of scripts on an analyst's desktop.