IT is more than software development - your sample size is fairly self-selective. Developers by the very nature of their role, spend most of their time in front of the machines on which they create or test code.

 

 

Also - i'm not sure that my case of the 'hard working man with a family on a limited budget' is that unusual at all.

 

My organisation employs I dunno, 30 people in IT and works hand-in-hand with a subset of another organisation that provides maybe another 50 people who we work with routinely? There's a remarkable cross-section of personality and culture types.

 

Some work remotely a lot - a few basically all the time. Others like me are in the office once or twice a week. In-person engagement with team members, with the organisation-at-large, is valuable when you're an internal IT capability as opposed to producing product (code) for external consumers.

 

 

For full transparency - i'm a Manager in an IT Security part of the business. Meeting with my own team in-person from time to time is valuable. Meeting with my 'customers' (stakeholders within the organisation, and with other organisations that we partner with) is also valuable. Seeing what the rest of the IT team are doing is valuable, as it lets me identify potential risks and bad behaviours. Being available for in-person advice and consults is valuable. Yes I can do it all from home, but using Zoom/Teams is not the same as being there in-person, so I mix it up and align my schedule to where things make sense.

 

I commute by train - but I drive to the train station. And if I have to be in the office but have an evening commitment in the city, or other family-related reasons that I need to have the car handy, i'll drive in (and pay the parking penalty).

 

 

And I don't presume to have knowledge of what my colleagues do in their off-hours, or what methods they choose to use to commute (but i've seen several of them, particularly those with families, in cars). But (to think of a few examples) those who enjoy the outdoors will use cars to get to camping sites, biking trails, marinas, etc. Those who have kids sports to support will be trekking to playing fields across th district (as I used to). Visiting extended family is often easier by car, especially if you have a car-full. Nevermind shopping for bulky items.

 

 

I bought a Hybrid a few months ago, having replaced a straight petrol station-wagon. If I have to go to paying RUC on the basis of my Odometer it will not be the end of the world, as presumably that means the tax will come off the petrol I put into the car and I'll likely buy it in chunks that make it affordable to me. But building the cost into petrol is the simplest way of ensuring everyone keeps up with the costs (it's unavoidable) and at a rate that's not creating lumps that you can't prepare for (how many contractors have stuffed up paying taxes?)