How did you (the individual artist) learn Houdini?

I’ve been teaching myself computer graphics for the last 5 years. I started with Blender and in the last year have moved onto Houdini. Houdini has one hell of a learning curve! I don’t know how I’m going to do this without a Mentor or an apprenticeship. Has anyone else felt that way that I’m feeling?

(I also have no money to pay for Mentorship…. Paid Mentorship seems to be the trend these days especially during this down time in our industry which I totally understand.)