# The one about my experience at SNGULAR (year 2) It has now been two years since I joined [SNGULAR](https://www.sngular.com/). Just as I did last year when I completed my first year, I want to talk about what my experience with the company has been like during this second year. Since SNGULAR is a consulting firm and I work full-time for a client, the truth is that my [relationship with the company itself](https://davidmontesdeoca.dev/the-one-about-my-experience-at-sngular-so-far#relationship-with-the-company) has not changed much compared to what I mentioned last year. But a year is a long time, and things always happen. ## Change of area within the company The group of engineers working for the same client was moved to SNGULAR's services division at the end of last year. That shift also brought a change in manager for us, as well as a new liaison with the client — roles that had previously been handled by the same person. It was a completely unexpected change for all of us. What surprised us even more was that the person assigned to replace our manager was scheduled to go on maternity leave in just a couple of months. That means we now have another manager replacing the first replacement, plus a new person acting as liaison with the client. I have to admit it has not made much of a difference for us on a day-to-day basis. Usually, in our weekly meetings, they just tell us there are no updates from either SNGULAR or the client. ## New security policy This is the biggest change that occurred over the past year, and one that generated quite a bit of controversy. At the beginning of 2026, the IT team notified us that, within a few months, they would be adding new security layers to restrict which devices can connect to internal company tools in order to comply with certain certifications. From that moment on, we could only access these tools from the laptop provided by the company. This includes things like checking email and Slack, joining the weekly meeting with colleagues assigned to the same client, logging project hours, requesting time off, and so on. This measure affected us in a phased rollout. I was among the first affected, starting in early April, while some of my colleagues were not impacted until well into June. In practice, we are forced to keep two laptops running on our desks at all times. Before this, it was very convenient to use just one computer and set up a separate browser profile to access the SNGULAR tools we needed. It is true that they give us the option to ask the IT team to set up an additional device to access those tools, but under no circumstances can that device be the client's laptop. In my case, to avoid having two laptops constantly turned on, I requested access from my Android phone. To do that, I had to install an app that sets up a work profile and contact the IT team to add the necessary configuration. Now, I just enable that profile whenever I need to check email or anything else. The rest of the time, the profile stays disabled: Image It works for me, but having software installed on your personal mobile device just because of work-imposed restrictions is far from ideal. In fact, most of my colleagues refuse to install that software altogether. Our manager is aware that response times will be significantly slower than usual due to this constraint. We have complained to the IT team on multiple occasions, but they tell us there is nothing more they can do. ## Salary review This topic also caused quite a bit of controversy. My colleagues had already warned me that salary raises at SNGULAR are modest, to put it politely. Every time the subject has come up so far, we have been told that the company's revenue from the previous year was lower than expected, so the budget allocated for raises was less than they would have liked. I already [mentioned](https://davidmontesdeoca.dev/the-one-about-my-experience-at-sngular-so-far#disadvantages) last year that I was not eligible for a salary review because I had not met the minimum tenure requirement at the company when the reviews took place. However, my previous manager promised that there would be a salary raise for me this year, considering that I deserved one last year and only missed out due to a technicality. Naturally, salary reviews depend heavily on the previous year's performance evaluation. In my case, the evaluation is done by another engineer on the SNGULAR team who works for the same client. He assured me he would fight for a fair raise for me and expected at least a 5% increase, though he ultimately did not have the final say. When the time came, it was the temporary manager who broke the news about the raise they considered fair for me. In this case, they felt 2% was appropriate, but — in her exact words — since that was a rather laughable figure, they bumped it up to a little over 3% to make it a round number. The raise would take effect the following month. It was a disappointment for me, and it left a bad taste in my mouth that she tried to sell it as if they were doing me a favor. They gave me the option to submit a formal appeal to reconsider my case. Although the outcome was obvious — as my salary remained unchanged — I never received an official response from the company regarding my appeal, either before or after the manager went on leave. Later, I found out that some of my colleagues initially received no raise at all, although after filing an appeal, the company apparently reconsidered and granted them a raise. From what I gather, that 2-3% raise is the company standard when performance in the engineering team is good, but I felt the promise made to me the previous year was not kept. What they did fulfill was a promotion in my professional title, moving from a Senior role to an Expert role. Granted, I was already at the top of the Senior salary bracket, so any salary raise required a title bump beforehand anyway. ## Other details to highlight Before wrapping up the review of this second year, I would like to quickly touch on a few other details: * This time, no one from HR reached out to me personally; I simply received an automated email congratulating me on my two-year anniversary with the company. * I still have monthly 1-on-1 meetings with the engineer acting as manager for those of us working with this client, which always helps to maintain some connection. * This year the company did not organize a summer party, but they did send us a Christmas hamper. The previous year, they made a donation in our name without consulting us and had to backtrack following understandable employee complaints, ultimately paying us the corresponding money in the next paycheck. * The policy regarding the training and wellness budgets remains as strict as ever. We still cannot use it for things we actually consider necessary for our daily work, like a standing desk. ## Conclusion If I had to sum up this second year, I would say it has been a reality check. The friction over new security policies, the disappointments regarding salary reviews, and the bureaucracy are constant reminders that, at the end of the day, you work for a consulting firm — with everything that entails. However, my day-to-day work remains 100% focused on the client, and that is where I find the stability, technical challenges, and good team atmosphere that make the job worthwhile. As I mentioned last year, in this line of work, your overall satisfaction depends almost exclusively on the nature of your assigned project. Despite the things I would certainly improve in my relationship with SNGULAR, the overall balance remains positive thanks to my day-to-day working environment. We will see what year three brings. Thanks for reading and see you in the next one!