Spotlight: Tim Yarbrough

Q: Tell us about yourself!
A: I am originally from Louisiana and moved to southern Arkansas as a kid. I made my way up to Northwest Arkansas for college and have been here ever since. I’ve been with Kitestring for almost three years as a Software Consultant, working on a broad set of Financial Services related code for my client.

Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
A: I really enjoy cycling, and make good use of all the great trails around here. I also spend a lot of time playing with the dogs, reading, watching movies with my wife, playing video games with friends, as well as playing guitar and piano.

Q: What led you to this career? Were you influenced by anyone or anything?
A: I spent most of my adult life as a professional musician, not only teaching lessons but performing with bands all across the country, playing weddings locally, doing lots of studio recording work; I was looking to shift to something more consistent and when a bandmate suddenly went to medical school, I took that as a sign to make the change as well, which led to me pursuing and completing a Computer Science degree shortly thereafter.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing since joining Kitestring?
A: I got to develop, code, and implement a rather large financial banking project for my client, which is still being used as we speak – it feels really good to walk into any store in North America and see it in action, and know that there have already been a mind-bending amount of people who have benefitted from it. I learned so many new things on that project, and we’re still adding things to it. As far as Kitestring itself, I have always really enjoyed taking part in the charity/volunteer events the company participates in, and love hearing the feedback we get during those events as well.

Q: What’s one thing – either industry-related or not – you learned in the last month?
A: Industry-wise, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about next-generation point-of-sale technology, what languages they lean on, the history of UPC barcodes, and how they’ve evolved into PDF417 format, QR codes, and how they’re generated. It’s really fascinating stuff and always stems from a need to make something more efficient for both the customer and the employees. As far as non-industry things, I’ve been learning more and more about how to build, repair, set up guitars (Luthier work) and may eventually try building my own.

Q: What keeps you motivated?
A: Always having a goal, big or small, of the next thing I want to experience or learn, and doing those things with the people I love, is a huge motivator. There’s so many places I haven’t seen yet, books I haven’t read, etc.

Q: Where is your favorite destination to travel to, and why?
A: I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time in Seattle over the years playing shows (I was just there a month ago for that!) – the nature and weather are great, there’s so many talented people there, both in the arts as well as the technology sector, and there’s a lot of great food options, too.

Q: What do you do to unwind after a busy day?
A: My wife and I will usually go on a long walk to decompress from work (She’s also in tech consulting), and either play games online with friends or play D&D bi-weekly with some local friends.

Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
A: My Linear Algebra professor told me that trying to work out a solution to a complicated problem without knowing the basic structure was “Like trying to learn a new language just by staring at the characters long enough.” – it’s a constant reminder to start at square one with a problem if it is not making sense and work off of those basics instead of trying to brute force everything without context. There are a LOT of moving parts to the codebase I work with daily, and having an understanding of all of the pieces that connect to it helps greatly.

Q: What, if anything, are you currently binge-watching? Or reading?
A: I’ve been reading The Expanse series lately, and just finished a reread of Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy.

Q: What do you like most about working at Kitestring?
A: Kitestring has always been really transparent about the future plans for the company, goals, the general game plan for all of us working there – I like knowing that I’m never more than a phone call or email away from getting in touch with anyone in the company, including the CEO, if I ever have an issue or questions about anything.

Q: Who inspires you and why?
A: My parents – despite the fact they’ve had a rollercoaster of a life, with all its ups and downs, they are still SO kind to everyone; whether it’s close family or complete strangers, they always make sure everyone is taken care of. They are still so full of life even as they grow older, and they’re always ready for the next big thing they want to accomplish.