FE wasn't a bad place to work provided you took it for what it was - a sim.
As the years have gone by, I believe they are all up to 4.5 standard (I haven't worked with them for a few years). The steep turns, as highlighted above, were always a little wacky, as were turns in general. These facts was always highlighted to pilots that came through to practice airline profiles, before their sim assessments. We always did our best to help with as many differences that were reported back to us. Different airlines use different sims, so it was always nice to get feedback.
I know during my time there that I did learn a lot and the few people I worked with are now all flying big jets around. By large they say the time they had in the sim, outside of working hours, helped a lot.
Not to say that the requirements are a little excessive all things considered but if you're flying casually in a major city, it is a good supplement to the income when every little bit helps (plus, it is aviation related in some way).