Somewhere along the way, the person who only wanted to write good code ends up with a title, a team, and a calendar that's 60% meetings about meetings. This is the story of making that leap into AI leadership: the things that helped, the things that nearly broke me, and why I still keep a terminal open like a comfort blanket. A candid, funny talk about staying technical enough to be useful while leading at scale, leading in a field that reinvents itself roughly every six months, and the imposter syndrome that never entirely leaves (you just acquire better company). For the senior developers eyeing the leadership ladder and quietly wondering whether they'll have to surrender the part they love. Spoiler, gently delivered: you don't.