Hard to say exactly when but the train went off the rails.
SoarTech has historically competed for ph1/ph2 DOD projects, specifically targeting anything with AI. Lack of diversification combined with increased competition in this space has lead to a government contractor that struggles to win enough contracts to keep everyone employed.
But when did it all go wrong? I would say in ~2017. SoarTech had unexpectedly won its first (or one of the first?) programs of record - a boring multiple choice learning management system.
A smarter company might see there opportunity to follow up, even if it's a dull AI-less product. SoarTech largely ignored this except to make a quick note in the quarterly meeting. It didn't even get migrated from Subversion to Git!
This is a company that had Siri back in the era when SRI spun off Siri and made crazy cash when Apple bought them. But SoarTech has never tried or cared to do the same. Half assed automotive is the best they could do.
No production systems, and a consistent disregard of opportunities to do so - even though the DOD has shifted towards "hey we want you to try to turn things into production systems!" The consequences are Now.
The latest strategy seems to be giving long time upper ranking employees flashy titles. I'm sure that'll work.
So: a kid or fresh out of school. Everyone I know at SoarTech has moved on to better gigs, so it's not really a bad stepping stone. And despite all this the company won't be going broke anytime soon.
Kind of a not great experience but not so bad that ex-employees are so unhappy to give it a one star so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
