After graduating from university I started with a company who had me on a 13 week contract where they could fire me instantly.   No notice, just get out the building now!   I did a lot of very good work for them during that time, ended up teaching the person who was supposed to be my superior how to work the software CAD tools better.   I was given more and more responsibility during that short time and more people with the company were coming to me for advice on how to fix or improve processes.   Or when something went wrong!


The wages were dreadfully low and the owner wouldn't even provide staff with a pen to use!   You had to bring your own, which my immediate superior would use expensive plotter pens instead because they couldn't argue with their purchase.   But you're a graduate and you need the work and experience.   You're in a really difficult and tight spot.


For me it came to a head when I had a meeting with the owner and he started ranting on about all the different employees he wanted to fire if he could!   I discretely warned one guy about what was said because we'd been friends (although he thought I had stolen the position from him, he never had the qualifications or skills to do what I could do), and it came back to me because he blabbed!   So you're right to be careful with who you talk to.   I managed to get out of that one because the owner had been ranting so loudly that I claimed everybody in the building could hear him!   Plausible enough.   And true.


At the end of my 13 weeks I was given several offers of pay rises but none were significant which would actually mean I could afford to live off, but I tried to get a reasonable return anyway.   Monday lunch time the boss of the products section asks me if I'll have a design project that they'd just given me a week earlier would be finished by Friday.   I said it would be tight as I was leaving on Wednesday.


Yes, I quit my job!   It's a liberating experience.   Hugely risky when you're young and I have to say that I had been for interviews in the last month way from this company, which they also made difficult wanting to know why I had requested a day off!   I got lucky as I got an offer to do a Ph.D. immediately after quitting.


The question, however, is what should you do?   You're in a very difficult position, if the work is dangerous then you have to say to your boss why.   You have to push back and be brave enough to push back.   State clearly why it is dangerous and say how it should be done.   If it's just that they're doing the job quickly, that's a different issue.   Personally I like to do a high standard of work and find efficient ways to ensure that you can keep at that standard by improving processes.


Ultimately if you're unhappy with the company you're working for you have to move.   I would be careful about quitting even though it worked out for me it's not something I recommend lightly.    Try to find somewhere to move to from job to new job rather than outright quitting.   But if the work is being left dangerous then you may have no other option, but ensure that you have stated to your boss first why you believe his work is dangerous.

After graduating from university I started with a company who had me on a 13 week contract where they could fire me instantly.   No notice, just get out the building now!   I did a lot of very good work for them during that time, ended up teaching the person who was supposed to be my superior how to work the software CAD tools better.   I was given more and more responsibility during that short time and more people with the company were coming to me for advice on how to fix or improve processes.   Or when something went wrong!


The wages were dreadfully low and the owner wouldn't even provide staff with a pen to use!   You had to bring your own, which my immediate superior would use expensive plotter pens instead because they couldn't argue with their purchase.   But you're a graduate and you need the work and experience.   You're in a really difficult and tight spot.


For me it came to a head when I had a meeting with the owner and he started ranting on about all the different employees he wanted to fire if he could!   I discretely warned one guy about what was said because we'd been friends (although he thought I had stolen the position from him, he never had the qualifications or skills to do what I could do), and it came back to me because he blabbed!   So you're right to be careful with who you talk to.   I managed to get out of that one because the owner had been ranting so loudly that I claimed everybody in the building could hear him!   Plausible enough.   And true.


At the end of my 13 weeks I was given several offers of pay rises but none were significant which would actually mean I could afford to live off, but I tried to get a reasonable return anyway.   Monday lunch time the boss of the products section asks me if I'll have a design project that they'd just given me a week earlier would be finished by Friday.   I said it would be tight as I was leaving on Wednesday.


Yes, I quit my job!   It's a liberating experience.   Hugely risky when you're young and I have to say that I had been for interviews in the last month way from this company, which they also made difficult wanting to know why I had requested a day off!   I got lucky as I got an offer to do a Ph.D. immediately after quitting.


The question, however, is what should you do?   You're in a very difficult position, if the work is dangerous then you have to say to your boss why.   You have to push back and be brave enough to push back.   State clearly why it is dangerous and say how it should be done.   If it's just that they're doing the job quickly, that's a different issue.   Personally I like to do a high standard of work and find efficient ways to ensure that you can keep at that standard by improving processes.


Ultimately if you're unhappy with the company you're working for you have to move.   I would be careful about quitting even though it worked out for me it's not something I recommend lightly.    Try to find somewhere to move to from job to new job rather than outright quitting.   But if the work is being left dangerous then you may have no other option, but ensure that you have stated to your boss first why you believe his work is dangerous.