When I'm working in Git, Go, or Linux code, Vim (and NeoVim) uses `expandtab` in conjunction with `softtabstop` and converts any `tabstop` spaces into a tab (with `noexpandtab`) regardless of whether or not it is "alignment".

I've not done lots of development with other editors, but Kate didn't do it and the few times I used Visual Studio, it also had similar behaviors (I'm assuming VSCode inherited that stuff).