I still write code. Most technology leaders stopped years ago. Here is why I did not.
There is an unwritten rule in technology careers. As you move up, you move away from the work. The promotion path takes you from building things to reviewing things to approving things. Eventually the closest you get to the technology is a slide about it.
I refused that trade, and it has made me a better leader, not a worse one.
Not because I do my engineers' jobs. I do not. My team owns the work, and the fastest way to break a strong team is a leader who cannot stay out of the weeds.
I build on my own time, on my own problems. Prototypes. Automation. Ideas I want to understand before I ask anyone else to bet on them.
I cannot be fooled
When a vendor demonstrates AI automation that will supposedly connect a network environment to cloud workloads with a few clicks, I know what that integration actually takes, because I have built integrations.
The demo is thirty minutes. The reality is months of identity, data, and network decisions that nobody puts on the slide.
I ask better questions
When my architects propose a design, I understand the tradeoffs they are carrying, because I have carried them.
That changes the conversation from status reporting to real technical dialogue.
I know what I am asking of people
When I set a deadline or challenge an estimate, it comes from someone who still feels what the work costs.
Engineers can tell the difference. It shows up in what they are willing to tell you.
The trade is backwards
The industry treats hands-on practice and leadership as a choice. I think that is exactly backwards, and the AI era is proving it.
The biggest technology bets right now are being made by people with the least understanding of how the technology actually works.
The higher you go, the more expensive your technical blind spots become.