I work at Aberdeen, MD making 141k. I got an offer once for 155k from a nearby military base not long ago. I've seen houses nearby for 180k. Pretty easy to save here if you're ok with Gov beurocrac. Easy to get a new job, too.
In my experience, the best ways to maximize your income as a software engineer are to job hop, study data structures/algorithms, and learn how to market yourself. Companies rarely reward engineers who stay put.
My experience with bootcamp graduates has been that they struggle with any non rudimentary problems and lack knowledge of any of the fundamentals required to do non CRUD applications.