I have never been much into mod development before, never had the interest until recently. I was wondering if it would be a waste of my time playing around with Oblivion's creation tools or the GECK while I wait for Skyrim's tools or are they different enough I would fail to benefit from them?

Since their basically on the same engine, I'm sure you can learn some stuff from Oblivion and Fallout's kits.

The Creation Kit will be basically the same in terms of work flow, so no, it would not be a waste to mess around with them. I suggest using the GECK though as it is more up to date and includes more features likely to be included in the Creation Kit then Oblivion's would have.

Thank you for the responses! I'm glad to hear this as it will give me some time to gain familiarity.

Save yourself a LOT of time and headache and follow the tutorials here:

http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/gamesas_Tutorial_GECK_Setup