Everyday Heroes

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:
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!)

What is Everyday Heroes?

Welcome to Everyday Heroes, a podcast about the unsung heroes of the tech world. From the phone in your pocket to the world's most critical digital infrastructure, open-source software has a hand in it. These free technologies that shape our digital world wouldn't be anything without the Heroes that maintain them, promote them, and evolve them - these are their stories.

Everyday Heroes is brought to you by HeroDevs.