Nobody in a software engineering job should have to live with parents for financial reasons. I appreciate OP's dedication, but they should be able to save up an emergency fund pretty quickly and move into their own (small) apartment.
If you're interested in saving for the longer term, I recommend checking out r/financialindependence.
That said, this is purely speculation. I have a 10 minute commute by subway+walking.
Or would you not be able to go back once you left?
It's there primarily for people who need to move because of work, and usually the employer who is relocating them would reimburse it. So, you could probably ask something like, "what if I get transferred to a different office before 12 months is up?"
That will signal some risk that the landlord will have to find a new tenant. My landlord is a REIT, and I live in a large complex with 2 full-time leasing agents onsite, so finding new tenants is not a huge burden for them - they're fine with high turnover. A mom-and-pop landlord might be skittish about that possibility. But it is still better than "what if I can't pay rent because I am unemployed?" Definitely don't ask that :).
to a business owner/landlord, asking how much it costs to exit the lease does not mark you as high risk. it just means you know what you're talking about, and they are free to set that value to whatever they want in the contract.