How did I learn AE? I've been working with it for a little more than 25 years. I read as much as I could, experimented, attended seminars, worked with developers, and studied the documentation. Studied the available documentation was the key. It has never been excellent, but it will give you the basics.
Vet your trainers. Most of the tutorials you will find on YouTube have been prepared by enthusiasts and most of them present inefficient workflows and lack proper explanations. You'll end up on the forums trying to figure out what you are doing wrong.
To start, check the User Guide. There are links on the Home Screen in AE and in the Learn Workspace. These will give you the basics and you need that knowledge to make sense of most of the tutorials you find on the internet. If you buy 3rd party plug-ins or pick up the free ones from Red Giant or Video Copilot make sure you look at their tutorials first.
If you have a few bucks to spare check out Linkedin Learning.
You also need to study up on video formats and compression. Almost every day there are posts from folks that are having problems with rendering. Until you absolutely understand the standards make sure you use the Presets for composition settings and rendering with the Render Cue or the Media Encoder.
You can look for some training that I have been working on for the last several months. I hope to be releasing it soon. It's all about visual effects and composting.
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