You are FIRED - living through that experience

@DopeBoy14"
Someone posted about being fired from their bank today. So I decided to share my two cents of a similar experience and how horrible the past three months of my job were.

Hey man, shit happens.

The Background
I got a 50k IB associate job at a shit bank with 3 partners, a VP, and another associate (young guy but big time douche bag). I took a low paying IB job (vs a 100k consulting job) because I wanted to learn and grow (and the boutique IB firm knew that). I soon realized that no one out there actually knew financial modeling. Even simple DCF's. I didn't know much myself either. I did think initially that there will be some sort of training, maybe not like the BB but some level of training. Eventually, I had to train myself. The only thing I did learn out there was making presentations and that too a lot of it I learned myself. But because these guys were so anal about getting the format font etc right I learned how to be the best at creating CIP's.

The Stage is Set
In 3 months the company told me that things aren't working out and in another 3 months I'd most probably have to leave (I think they started looking for alternatives and a cheaper analyst too - they hired someone for 30k a year later). But the next 3 months for me were horrible, the people at the firm were all old, white, sexists, racists, homophobes. My VP (about 70ish yr old guy) used to constantly mimic an Indian accent (I'm Indian) and said that's his British sense of humor. I had the most horrible time of my life at that firm during those 3 months. Needless to say, my wife and I started having problems because of the job etc.

Problems at Home
Eventually, when I got laid off I started working for a senior banker who for some reason was working solo on a $60M sell-side transaction and an $8M buy-side transaction. I started working for free for him initially as I just wanted to learn and stick in the industry. He trained me, taught me a bunch of stuff, I did a lot of work for him, anything and everything I learned at my old firm - mostly making CIP's. He started paying me a monthly stipend (1k) and has offered to pay a % of the deal (70k) when it closes. He flys me to the client's location often and treats me like a VP now. I ended up hiring two interns from my grad school and am training them the way I hoped my old firm trained me. And in hindsight, I feel it would have been so much better if I left the old firm when they said things aren't working out. So I would say its a better if someone gets fired overnight than dragging it for months.

Prospects
IB is a great field man. I'm in it for the money and the meeting people, making financial models, creating CIP's are just a bonus. I never knew that I would enjoy being a perfectionist (still learning to be better). Especially because I thought I could never be one. I think just doing the same thing, again and again, does make you fall in love with what you do. Now that I manage two analysts/interns, I am now learning how to carry out a deal independently with as little intervention from my partner. My goal is to keep working for the guy I'm working for the next year or so and then move to a decent firm where I have job security and can make money. My Partner knows my plan and is supportive of me. He has offered me to stay on board too but understands the situation. I do feel lucky I found a banker like him to guide me. I'm always learning and growing and I think that's what always works. Hard work, hard work, and some more hard work. I also interviewed at a bunch of IB firms (Baird, Jefferies, Stifel and a few smaller ones) where I made it to the final round but was either put on hold (so that they could offer a job in case the first choice candidate declined) or got dinged. Once I have a decent experience I plan to hit the market with all I have and till then keep polishing myself.

Questions
Do you guys have any suggestions/recommendations of what you would do differently?