The Power User: How Cecelia Martinez McCrea Went from "Wait, Y'all MADE This?" to "Yeah, I Help NASA Test Their Code"

Everyday Heroes

Meet the woman who started coding because she was *double takes on notes* the only person at her finance job who actually USED their internal app. (Listen, sometimes being the office overachiever leads to unexpected career pivots.)

In this episode:

• That time her company's dev team was like "Hey, why are you the ONLY ONE using our app?" and she was like "Wait, y'all MADE this?"
• How going from LiveJournal layouts to NASA's test suite is actually a totally normal career progression (if you're that kind of chaotic)
• Why she thinks DevRel shouldn't just be about making funny tech TikToks (but also... maybe a few funny tech TikToks?)
• The moment she CRUSHED our ancient food preservation trivia and made us question everything we know about Viking fish (seriously, WHO KNOWS THIS STUFF?)
• A passionate defense of solving puzzles before deploying to production (because web devs have it TOO EASY)

Featured Projects & Links:

• Find Cecelia:
  • @celiacreates everywhere (she's consistent like that)
  • celiacreates.com
  • Atlanta JavaScript organizer
  • Out in Tech Atlanta leader
  • The person making sure your YAML is properly indented (you're welcome)

Key Quote: "The thing about developer advocacy is you're beholden to the entire community. You can't just make one person happy - you have to make EVERYBODY happy." - Cecelia Martinez McCrea, casually explaining why her job is basically impossible

Fun Fact: Our guest correctly identified Viking fish preservation techniques because she ALMOST ATE fermented shark in Iceland once. (This is the kind of specific life experience you just can't plan for.)

Speaking Topics:

• AI in DevOps (but not in a scary way)
• Why testing shouldn't be an afterthought (looking at you, web devs)
• How to build actually inclusive tech communities
• The art of making YAML less terrifying

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 being "that person" at work who actually uses all the tools is annoying, just remember: THIS WOMAN turned it into a whole tech career. Sometimes being extra pays off.)