And the award for the longest podcast intro goes to checks notes Hayden. (Holy cow... compensating for something?)

Ever wondered what happens when you let your childhood menace grow up and give him INTENTIONAL access to things that break? Meet Dave Welch, the guy whose mom literally had to lock away the household tools because he kept disassembling everything and failing to put it back together (spoiler: turns out this is EXACTLY the right background for software engineering).

In this episode:

• The shocking confessions of a former household appliance serial killer ("Several remotes and vacuum cleaners later, my mom's like, 'cool, the tools are now locked away'")
• His brief romance with the culinary arts (complete with getting kicked in the feet by an executive sushi chef on day TWO)
• The moment when "hey, I'm seven bucks an hour part-time, but you're paid to be here, so act accordingly" became his entire professional philosophy
• Why he's the one person on Earth who WANTS your old deprecated packages (it's literally his job to keep your technological regrets alive)
• The absolutely wild legal loophole that lets Texans LEGALLY STEAL HOUSES (which honestly explains so much about Texas)

Featured Projects & Links:

• Find Dave:
  • david@herodevs.com
  • @david_welch on Twitter/X
  • The guy actively praying you'll finally deprecate your ancient packages
  • Chief Software Architect at HeroDevs (where abandoned code goes to live, not die)

Key Quote: "It started out with software, which is great, because if I broke it, I could restore it." - Dave Welch, explaining his entire career philosophy

Fun Fact: Our guest correctly identified that riding a motorized barstool while drunk in Ohio ISN'T technically drunk driving because... Ohio, obviously.

Hosted by Hayden Ballio and Wendy Hurst
Brought to you by HeroDevs - Because someone has to keep your end-of-life software from becoming end-of-world software.

(Next time a compliance officer asks why you're still running AngularJS, just send them this episode and say "THESE GUYS WILL FIX IT" - Dave literally told you to.)

Move over, Python nerds - turns out you CAN teach an old JavaScript dog new AI tricks. Meet Aileen Villanueva, the industrial engineer turned frontend wizard who discovered you don't need to learn an entirely new language just to make robots smarter (looking at you, everyone who panic-enrolled in Python boot camps in 2023).

In this episode:

• How being "strategically located" near the US border accidentally gave her a frontend career superpower (geography: it matters!)
• The moment she realized "wait, I can do AI stuff with JavaScript?" and saved herself from learning Python (work smarter, not harder)
• Why teaching others is secretly just her clever way of forcing herself to actually learn things (the ULTIMATE accountability hack)
• Her dream of opening a coffee shop someday (which explains why she IMMEDIATELY rejected our AI coffee recommendation app)
• The shocking truth that Mexico doesn't have a fruit-throwing festival (but they DO carve elaborate radish sculptures, which she didn't know about either)

Featured Projects & Links:

• Find Aileen:
  • @aileen_vl on Twitter, Bluesky, GitHub
  • Google Developer Group (GDG) Monterrey organizer
  • Women Techmakers ambassador (because someone has to fix tech's gender ratio)
  • Speaker at REACT Miami 2025 (and possibly more if these CFPs ever get accepted)

Key Quote: "When I do talks, it's because I also want to learn more. If I need to teach something, I must understand it to actually teach somebody." - Aileen Villanueva, using the classic "teach it to learn it" technique

Fun Fact: Our guest correctly identified that Italians throw oranges at each other for a medieval battle reenactment, proving that Europeans will throw ANY produce if given the chance.

Hosted by Hayden Ballio and Wendy Hurst
Brought to you by HeroDevs - Because someone has to keep your end-of-life software from becoming end-of-world software.

(Next time someone tells you that you need to abandon JavaScript to get into AI, just remember: THIS WOMAN found a way to stay in her comfort zone AND still ride the AI wave. Work smarter AND harder.)

What do you do when you've seen TOO MANY people on their worst day? You find a career where the worst day involves merge conflicts. JD Flynn's journey from paramedic burnout to Drupal powerhouse is the career pivot we didn't know we needed.

In this episode:

• The EXACT moment he realized "maybe I shouldn't be a paramedic anymore" (spoiler: it involves losing empathy for humans, which is generally considered a job requirement)
• How streaming on Twitch literally kept him from "circling the drain" during unemployment (turns out talking to yourself CAN make you a better developer)
• That time he contributed a Star Wars reference to Drupal core that's STILL THERE (search "may the force be with you" and feel the power of the open source)
• The shocking truth that he can play basically EVERY INSTRUMENT EVER (but travels with none of them, which seems like a missed opportunity)
• His pitch-perfect defense of not learning every new JavaScript framework (because 15 were deprecated while you read this sentence)

Featured Projects & Links:

• Find JD:
  • Twitch: JDdoesDev (3-5 nights a week!)
  • Bluesky: @JDdoesDev
  • Drupal core: That one Star Wars reference
  • HeroDevs: Where he currently helps your ancient PHP not implode

Key Quote: "It's okay to not be okay." - JD Flynn, giving us the permission slip we didn't know we needed

Fun Fact: Our guest correctly answered EVERY QUESTION about dance history despite having zero background in dance. (We're not saying he cheated, but we're not NOT saying it either.)

Mental Health Resources:

• OSMI (Open Sourcing Mental Illness)
• Put your own oxygen mask on first
• Finding creative outlets (like playing every wind instrument ever created)

Hosted by Hayden Baillio and Wendy Hurst
Brought to you by HeroDevs - Because someone has to keep your end-of-life software from becoming end-of-world software.

(Next time you're feeling burned out, remember: streaming yourself coding weird game projects while talking to internet strangers might just save your mental health. It's like therapy with more bugs!)