Greg: I sympathize completely! My recommendation (for what it's worth) to learn Pro/E on little or no $. Would be: 1)Buy the student version. 2)Find out what references are available on ebay/amazon, etc. But one of those, maybe one of the Toogood workbooks also. 3) Familarize yourself with the basic commands, making simple parts, assemblies and drawings. Once you've done this, drop it like a 'hot-potato'. 4) Pick a real item to model and create assy's and dwg's. for example: Model your deck or your house, or the lawn mower. Do all the parts down the nails and screws,sheet-rock, etc. The point here is to do something real, don't waste anymore time with these book projects. From my experience, I find that I only really learn new software when I need to use it. At this point use the books only as a referance. I would't waste any time or $ (personal $) on these Pro/E courses, they're all very basic. If can model your own deck or house, you'll have surpassed the skill level you'll acheive from these courses. Once you have these items modeled and dwgs made you'll have somewhat of a portfolio to showcase your skills. From then on, I'd register with a freelance design website (www.cadground, etc)and try to get some freelance work that way. I think if you devoted yourself about 4hrs a day, for about 2months you could be a fairly proficient user. Anyway, just my opinions/suggestions. Best-of-luck! Steve