Any tips for an intermediate AE user?

After Effects User Guide for the soul: After Effects Help | After Effects User Guide. This is the bible that you must carry under your arm and everywhere, whenever you want to not only know how to use a tool superficially. After Effects tools often have hidden use secrets, look for the tool, menu, option or whatever you're using in Ae and read about it. I'm not telling you to read the entire User Guide because you're not a beginner, but it helps to read everything you do, as well as watch videos After Effects tutorials | Learn how to use After Effects CC​. And as Rick and Szalam say, it also helps you to subscribe to an online learning platform.

Check your local library. They may have (or are able to order from other libraries) books about After Effects. And, if you live in America, definitely check out your library because a lot of libraries have access to Lynda.com so you could go through some of the more in-depth courses there. Even if your library doesn't have Lynda (or LinkedIn Learning as it's now being called), I do recommend them as a great resource for learning many things.

The best tip I can give is to use the Search Help field at the top right corner of AE when you are trying a new effect or procedure, subscribe to Lynda.com or Total Training for a few months, and study the basic principals of animation and compositing. The principals are not specific to After Effects. All compositing apps use blend modes, track mattes, and keyframes to create their magic.