Spotlight: Josh Esgar

Q: Tell us about yourself! -How long have you worked at Kitestring? -What is your position?
A: I’ve been with Kitestring for just over 3 years now. I’m in a client role with America’s Car-Mart where I act in a tech lead/architect/developer role.

Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
A: I’m a big media nerd: music, movies, video games. I’ve recently picked up Pickleball, which has been a blast. It’s a perfect combination of ping pong and tennis, 2 sports I’ve played most of my life.

Q: Tell us how you started down your career path. -Were you influenced by anyone?
A: I was fortunate enough to have a web design/programming class in my high school which was rare in southwest Missouri in 2006. My teacher in that class was one of my all-time favorite teachers and really made me love what could be done with software. Shout out, Mrs. O’Banion!

Q: What are some of your favorite things about living and working in Northwest Arkansas?
A:

•  The number of outdoor activities available to my family
• The friendliness of the people here
• The amount of diversity of culture and cuisine here is rare to find in this part of the country

Q: How have you grown professionally while on our team?
A: I’ve become so much more confident when speaking to people, especially to the business which has improved my ability to help diagnose problems and create good software solutions to those problems.

Q: What’s one thing – either industry-related or not – you learned in the last month?
A: I’ve been trying to learn more front-end technologies, and the new MAUI stuff coming out of Microsoft recently has been super interesting to learn about. Outside of work, (a bit more than a month ago, but I’ll still count it) I just learned the rules of Pickleball, which is a blast!

Q: What keeps you motivated?
A: Helping people. It sounds cliché, but the best part of my job is seeing the real impact that our software solutions can bring. It’s hard to stay motivated with how fast tech moves and how many new frameworks, languages, platforms, etc. come out, but what keeps me coming back is actually being able to see people’s jobs improve with the work we do, and to see their appreciation for the work we get to do.

Q: Where is your favorite destination you’ve visited, and why?
A: For visiting specifically, I love big cities. New York and Chicago were such huge shocks to someone raised in small suburbs. The hustle and bustle of New York City is such a change in energy and perspective. I wouldn’t want to live there I don’t think, but visiting is a blast. Central Park, the Met, and Yankee Stadium were all big highlights.

Q: What do you enjoy most about volunteering?
A: I think this question ties back in with the “what keeps you motivated?” question. Helping people is so intrinsically satisfying and fulfilling. Volunteering goes above and beyond that by being able to tangibly give back to those who need it most in our society. There are so many variables that put people in the situations they’re in and being able to look past all that and serve people where they are because they are innately worthy of help and support is such an important part of being human.

Q: If you could talk to your younger self, what would you say?
A: “Don’t worry, you’re good enough.” I’ve had a lot of anxiety throughout my life about excelling in different parts of my life where I thought it was expected of me to succeed. Worrying about being good enough at school, sports, relationships, career, etc. has led to a lot of mental stress in my life and I think instilling in my younger self that no matter the outcome of all these situations, it would be okay because those aren’t good indicators of my worth would have gone a long way. I’m still working on it, but I’ve come a long way!