He Worked 500 Feet Underwater - Now He Builds AI | Billy McKinnon Ep 62
From Beyond Data Management Podcast · 58:37
Show by Cameron Garrison
Billy McKinnon spent a decade doing one of the most dangerous and unusual jobs on Earth: saturation diving. He worked hundreds of feet below the ocean surface, connected offshore oil pipelines, breathed mixtures containing as much as 98 percent helium and remained under pressure for weeks at a time.Then COVID stopped the travel, Billy enrolled in a coding boot camp, learned from YouTube and reinvented himself as a software developer.In Episode 62 of Beyond Data Management, Cameron Garrison sits down with Billy to unpack that remarkable career pivot. Billy explains what saturation divers actually do, how a diving bell connects to a pressurized living chamber, why decompression can take four days and what it is like to work where visibility can disappear completely.The conversation then moves into Billy's current work supporting HS GovTech clients and building specialized scripts that extend HS CloudSuite for unique agency workflows. Cameron and Billy also tackle a timely question: as AI performs more of the coding, will the next generation of developers understand the systems they create?Finally, Billy demonstrates Dynasty Degens, his AI-powered fantasy football platform for Sleeper leagues. Its JARVIS engine analyzes entire leagues, evaluates trades and waivers, optimizes lineups, runs playoff simulations and learns from each week's results using historical performance, coaching tendencies, injuries, game conditions and weather.Your league mates are guessing. You don’t have to.Meet Dynasty Degens, the AI-powered fantasy football platform built to give you an edge.At the heart of it is JARVIS, your AI fantasy football engine. It brings together your Sleeper league’s settings and scoring with player usage, trends, matchups and historical data to help you make smarter decisions. Its weekly projections build on Sleeper’s baseline with adjustments for verified workload and opportunity.With an archive of over 2 million historical player-value data points, Dynasty Degens gives you more context for trades, roster strategy, lineups, waivers and drafts, all tailored to your league.Stop guessing. Start using AI.Try Dynasty Degens: https://dynastydegens.com/Guest: Billy McKinnonHost: Cameron GarrisonPodcast: Beyond Data Management, powered by HS GovTechSubscribe for more conversations about environmental health, government technology, software, AI and the people doing the work behind the scenes.#SaturationDiving #SoftwareDeveloper #ArtificialIntelligence #FantasyFootball #govtech 0:00 Show open0:13 Meet Billy McKinnon1:28 Running technical support at HS GovTech1:50 An unconventional path into software3:26 What saturation divers actually do4:05 Breathing 98 percent helium at 500 feet4:46 Saturation diving footage from the North Sea6:22 Living under pressure for 28 days8:21 Life inside the chamber8:42 Ten years as a saturation diver9:01 Underwater pipeline work and Hydratight bolts9:52 Why COVID triggered a career change10:34 Boot camp YouTube and learning to code11:19 Will AI create developers who do not understand the code12:08 Custom scripts inside HS CloudSuite13:09 Four years at HS GovTech13:37 Learning the environmental health world15:02 Why every developer should ride along with an inspector16:15 The people and culture behind HS GovTech16:56 The 14 team HS GovTech fantasy league20:35 How dynasty fantasy football works22:27 The relentless Jaxon Smith-Njigba trade offers25:00 NFL injuries teams and weekly chaos32:14 Billy reveals Dynasty Degens32:56 JARVIS lineup optimization and projections35:08 Autopilot waivers trades and roster advice36:29 The Dynasty Degens Chrome extension38:14 The War Room exposes a bad trade39:08 AI draft review and dynasty strategy40:25 How to try Dynasty Degens41:29 Playoff simulations and smarter projections41:55 The 26 gigabyte local AI that learns every week44:19 A fantasy league for podcast viewers45:17 Building the platform with AI as the staff54:08 The person behind HS GovTech support55:26 ClosingSend us Fan MailPlease remember to like and subscribe - and reach out to us with your stories and show ideas [email protected]
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