I hate to crush this romanticism in the crib, but this comment is overemphasizing the impact a lone engineer working on a government project will have, which will just disillusion and frustrate applicants once they start the job.

The parent's concerns about quality of life with pay topping out at 160k is real and shouldn't be waved away with "it's worth it". Doubly so if you have kids. Take a look at this recent living wage page: http://livingwage.mit.edu/. Can you make it work? Sure. But going into this with eyes wide open is better than looking at this with rose-tinted glasses.