I can only imagine how good the real time digital image generators are today. And how much smaller they would be, too. (Ours filled multiple rooms in the 70's, by the mid 80's maybe 30 feet of cabinets.)
When I was working as a tech for Singer Simulated Products Division, they had a great bunch of guys who really knew their stuff, many without too much in the way of "blessings" by academia. Pay was significantly related to knowledge, ability and performance. The AF was pretty smart about valuing top notch tech support. Most of us felt like you, Simtech, we loved the work. Glad to hear it's still like that.