I have worked with Elixir quite a lot, and I think I have a fair idea of how the language works in general, and how OTP apps are structured.

Even so, I find myself having the exact same issue as you are having when using Phoenix and Ecto. The way I like learning something new is by looking at something someone else has made. This gives me a much better view of how things are done than just reading getting-started guides and docs. I have looked, but I haven't found a lot of examples that actually applies to the latest versions of Phoenix and Ecto.