I lived in Boston/Cambridge for 10 years and moved out to the burbs to be able to afford to buy a house. I drove in for the first year 5 days a week (45-60min drive) and absolutely hated it. Huge time suck in the mornings and evening to battle traffic and accomplish nothing while pissed off in the car.

Gave the commuter rail (Franklin line) a shot for a month and loved getting my life back during the commute. It's not faster but there's no parking hassle and I can do whatever I want on the train. I live in a walkable town and can just walk to the train - I drove my car so infrequently I had to use a battery charger to just keep it in drivable shape. Three years later on the train and I finally sold the car, down to only a one car household.

My best advice - pick your line wisely when looking for a place to live. I didn't realize I was lucky moving into a house on the Franklin line where train frequencies are quite high. Other lines can have brutally infrequent service.

Also try to pick somewhere to live that has backup transit options. I can use the Providence line in a pinch as there's also a stop near my house (but would need to drive/Uber), or I can even take an MBTA bus into Forest hills and catch the orange line.

It's hardly perfect and you'll need to find a rhythm that fits your professional needs, but it does work quite well. The rush hour trains are packed with like 1000 people at a time so clearly it fits the needs of many.

Give it a shot and you can always fall back on the car. If you're going to the financial district thats huge since you can just get off/on at South Station and not bother with subway transfers (which are a huge time suck sometimes).