There are guides around... but for casual play, none seemed particularly interesting. IMO, anyway. This is based on quick googling.
As for collecting, i recommend widening your collection first. Sure, you won't have multiple copies of many upgrades but you can test things. Focus on getting more when you know more, you know?
Use
https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs= for building squads. Far easier than spreading all your cards and trying to find combinations :P
Some thoughts on squad building:
IMO, you will need to find your own style, it will be more fun that anyway rather than following cookie cutter ideas. And remember to follow few basics like "focus on strengths" and... uh, note synergies? Fly everything you can at least once to get some idea how things work.
Economy in squad building is a good thing to note: Don't spend points on things you don't need. If in doubt, you probably don't need it, unless you have points leftover. Depending, it may be better to slap an empty filler ship to your squad rather than cram expensive upgrades for others when cheaper ones do just fine.
Action-economy for ships is usually good as well, so building around that is a good idea (eg a ship that grants others extra actions).
No comment on pilot skills, still haven't figured these out properly. (But in casual play with my brother and friends, we don't have any meta-game really, we have no idea what kind of things others prefer.)
Basic ship types can be split to "arc-dodgers" (eg TIE Interceptor, A-wing), "jousters" (X-wing, TIE Defender) and "turrets" (Y-wing with turret, Decimator). As a general rule, arc dodger beats jouster, jouster beats turret, turret beats arc-dodger.
But then there are also ordnance ships (missiles, torpedoes), bombers, and support ships (eg a TIE Bomber with "TIE Shuttle" title carrying a couple of crews that benefit other ships in the squad). And ships that can be multiple roles (like the new TIE Silencer which arguably works both as an arc-dodger and a jouster though it is also very expensive).
Basic squad compositions consist of things like swarms (many ships, usually weak), aces (few decked out ships) or... well, high-low mix (one or two good ships, rest weak filler).
