I'm about as new to engineering as a person can be. I just graduated with a BS - Civil Engineering (Structural Focus) and was offered a position with a shipyard in Norfolk.
That is where we stay until we prove ourselves to be "subject matter experts," which, in my mind, equates to getting a PE. This takes about 3-5 years in the position. Once we've earned the SME title, we will make up to $43.81/hr and $65.72/hr OT. That's the max pay for an engineer at this company before goign to management.
They tell us that we will typically earn between 500-1000 hours of OT per year because of long trips to other shipyards. That sounds like a really high number to me, but even on the low end, 500 hours, that will end up with a range of $75200/yr entry level up to $95500 after 1.5 years of satisfactory performance.
There's also all of the per diem money we get for travelling, but I can't speak to that amount because I'm so new.
I live in Norfolk, so this is a great sum of money for me. My wife brings in about $60k/yr herself. So, combined we should be making about $120k - $160k roughly sometime between now and the next year-and-a-half.
My experience is, of course, very little. I've only been on the job now for three weeks. I actually just checked my first structural drawing! It was very exciting. Even for something so little as an angle-iron foundation, it felt good to approve the math that shows this steel component will hold an object in place!
We have no debt between us. I paid for my degree with the GI Bill. She paid for her degree a few years ago. We don't have to pay for medical/dental/etc, because her job (military) gives us 100% family coverage with $0 deductible! It's quite nice! Our cars were bought with cash used. We don't have any credit cards with balances - we pay them off right away just to build credit and save 5% on purchases at Target. :P
We were living comfortably before I got the position. Our rent is $1500/month, but we're looking to buy a house now. Depending on how things go, we hope to put about 50% down on a home in the $300k range using our existing nest egg and what we add to it in the next year.
The best decision I've ever made was to pay off all of my debt and refuse to take large loans for things or buy unnecessary things on credit. A used $5000 car will get you quite a ways and is quite considerably less costly than making $350/mo payments on a preowned 2012 car. All that money you saved goes to our nest egg, which has grown quite nicely - enough to almost make that huge downpayment on a house mentioned previously.
We go out to a nice dinner every Friday. We typically buy groceries twice per week (so we can have fresh produce). Groceries aren't too expensive, but I've convinced my wife that paying extra for good food is a worthwhile expense. So, sometimes we buy fancy steaks or butcher fresh salmon. Harris Teeter has some of the best produce ever!
All-in-all, we're doing very well even starting out; but a lot of it comes from the preparation and decisions we made before this. We both stayed on top of our debts, worked diligently to pay them off ahead of schedule. We didn't splurge on things like expensive stereos or chrome accessories or the newest TVs and such.
Now that I'm making decent money as an engineer, I think we're going to be very happy here in Norfolk. Now, we just have to find a good realtor! :)