diff --git a/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj b/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj
index 07c913c..cb41ec8 100644
--- a/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/pods/impl.clj
@@ -186,8 +186,8 @@
                     (next-id))
          pod (assoc pod :pod-id pod-id)
          vars-fn (fn [ns-name-str vars]
-                   (reduce
-                    (fn [m var]
+                   (mapv
+                    (fn [var]
                       (let [name (get-string var "name")
                             async? (some-> (get var "async")
                                            bytes->string
@@ -195,24 +195,19 @@
                             name-sym (symbol name)
                             sym (symbol ns-name-str name)
                             code (get-maybe-string var "code")]
-                        (conj m [name-sym
-                                 (or code
-                                     (fn [& args]
-                                       (let [res (invoke pod sym args {:async async?})]
-                                         res)))])))
-                    ;; vars should be ordered as one code segment may depend on the previous one
-                    []
+                        [name-sym
+                         (or code
+                             (fn [& args]
+                               (let [res (invoke pod sym args {:async async?})]
+                                 res)))]))
                     vars))
-         pod-namespaces (reduce (fn [namespaces namespace]
-                                  (let [name-str (-> namespace (get "name") bytes->string)
-                                        name-sym (symbol name-str)
-                                        vars (get namespace "vars")
-                                        vars (vars-fn name-str vars)]
-                                    (conj namespaces [name-sym vars])))
-                                ;; namespaces should also be ordered, allowing
-                                ;; one namespace to leverage the previous one
-                                []
-                                pod-namespaces)
+         pod-namespaces (mapv (fn [namespace]
+                                (let [name-str (-> namespace (get "name") bytes->string)
+                                      name-sym (symbol name-str)
+                                      vars (get namespace "vars")
+                                      vars (vars-fn name-str vars)]
+                                  [name-sym vars]))
+                              pod-namespaces)
          pod (assoc pod :namespaces pod-namespaces)]
      (swap! pods assoc pod-id pod)
      pod)))