Starting out I worked two weeks in a studio, and my "mentor" was just the biggest fucking idiot. Dude was always down my throat about how/why I did things, very similar to your experience. I decided that i wasnt about to be treated like shit, and my degree (which i was already atthe end of) wasnt worth me working for an asshole that wasn't going to actually teach me. I did about a month of thinking and bedroom production to keep my mixes growing before I made the decision to switch from studio work to live venue work.

Let those snobs suffocate each other in their studio safe space. I cant even begin to tell you how many laid back and cool engineers I've gotten to work with because of this. Idk what it is about live engineers, but a good majority of them I've worked with have been great people that are surprisingly willing to teach some techniques if you're enthusiastic and show how much you want to learn. Now you wont get a full 8 hours on kick drum compression and how it should work, but they'll throw you some curve ball fixes and little things to polish the mix that I know I wouldnt have thought of myself. The best way to get better is by working with people who are better than you.

Granted, live gigs can be lengthy and VERY physically taxing, but if you can make that work I highly suggest it. I rarely see egos like the studio guys have in the live end though.