DevRel looks glamorous—conferences, content, and community wins. But behind every tweet and tutorial lies a demanding reality of emotional labor, burnout, and often invisible work. In this talk, I’ll unpack the lesser-known challenges of developer relations, especially in open source communities. From managing community expectations to balancing advocacy and engineering, I’ll share lessons learned, mistakes made, and strategies for sustainable impact. This session is for anyone who’s ever wondered what it really takes to build thriving, inclusive tech communities—from Discord mods to documentation warriors. Let’s go beyond the surface and talk about what DevRel really demands.