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Sarah Julia Kriesch on Open Source, AI and the Future of Tech
Sarah Julia Kriesch is working as a Senior Lead Architect regarding Hybrid Cloud at Kyndryl. She is an educated Linux System Administrator and studied Computer Science at the TH Nürnberg. She received the responsibility for the s390x port at openSUSE after her Bachelor Thesis at IBM and is Chair of the Linux Distributions Working Group. She wants to create an environment of collaboration in the open source community, where all are welcome and can contribute.
Sarah Julia Kriesch has been grown from an education as a Linux System Administrator via different education steps into an IT-Architect role in Kyndryl. She is Chair of the Linux Distributions Working Group and is the go-to person for open source contributors, who want to contribute also to the mainframe area. She is an Expert for Hybrid Cloud, DevOps, Linux and AI. She is telling about her career, how she has been growing into this role and how the world will be adopted within the next years. She will highlighting, what should be recognized and how the industry can develop new talents.
What inspired you to pursue a career in Linux, open source, and mainframe technologies, and how has your journey evolved over the years?
I have played already with tech and the nature during my school time. I took part of the contest “Youth researches” in the area of Physics and had an eye for the Computer Scientists there. I was interested, how to write such computer programs, but the Computer Scientist was missing in the family for the education. I received the hint there to choose a dual education as a Computer Science Expert. I did that and I didn’t know before that most of the internet is based on Linux operating systems. I was positively surprised, that open source software is available for free and that you can learn based on the public code and the compatibility more than using Windows. My education had the focus on Systems Administration, and I became a Linux and Open Source Enthusiast on this way. In the second year of education, I wanted to meet the people, who have been providing my operating system openSUSE. I went to the openSUSE Conference and had a great time in an open and welcome community, where people have been helping each other. I have received also a Mentor supporting me until the end of my first education. I am staying there until today.
After 4 years as a Linux System Administrator, I wanted to learn more about efficient Software Engineering and I started my Bachelor studies at the Technische Hochschule Nürnberg. In comparison to other students, I have known my reasons and goals for learning Software Engineering. I wanted to become a Linux Developer and IT Architect in this direction for combining the knowledge about IT Infrastructure with the Linux and Open Source Development. Open Source Events in Germany have been part of my calendar yearly also. I was part of the Student Council and at the end of my 2nd year, we have received an invitation to the Mainframe Summer Camp by the Academic Mainframe Consortium e.V. at IBM. I have not heard about mainframes until then but thought then: “Wow! A new architecture for me as an extension and I can run Linux and containers on it.”
Afterwards, I wrote my Bachelor Thesis about Kubernetes on the Mainframe. Finally, I was qualified enough for taking over the s390x Port for openSUSE, what I maintain until today. After some months as a Consultant with this responsibility, I was invited to the IBM Z Day, where I have been nominated as an IBM Champion based on my contributions. There was also a presentation about the Open Mainframe Project, where I and Elizabeth Joseph have founded the Linux Distributions Working Group directly afterwards. Based on this open source career, I have been growing from a Trainee status to a Leadership role within the open source community.
What does open source mean to you personally, and why do you believe it is essential to the future of technology?
Open Source is for me living the open source freedom with the possibility to use, adopt and contribute to great software in a community of collaboration world-wide. Finally, we can have happy users and companies, who want to sell support or IT-Consulting based on our work, can create happy customers. That is also, what I want to achieve as an Open Source Contributor and as an IT-Architect.
Companies requesting Consulting with me, can tell about existing problems, what I can solve via Upstream First and integrate into Linux distributions or I can provide container images based on that. The same is happening also at open source conferences with other open source developers. I am already well known for my open source community and Enterprise network in the IBM community. Therefore, people are reaching out to me, if they want to enable their open source project for IBM Z & LinuxONE. This year, the Maintainers of GNUCobol and gcobol as part of gcc, as an example, have received Virtual Machines (VM) for development in the LinuxONE OSS Community Cloud. Such VMs are free resources for Open Source Contributors, sponsored by IBM, in the Marist College data centre as part of the Open Mainframe Project, where I am (Co-)Chair of the Linux Distributions Working Group.
In general, open source is the foundation for innovations of tomorrow and Digital Sovereignty. There is no Sovereign Software without open source software as a foundation. It is essential for the future of technology, because the open source review process is multiple eye based with Contributors from different companies and from different parts of the world. That prevents security issues and potential risks, because distributed processes can be different. In comparison to that, commercial software is created by one company with only an eye on a special set of processes and based on a reduced set on tests.
You believe in bringing different hardware platforms and technologies together through open source software. How can organizations bridge the gap between traditional mainframes, Linux, cloud infrastructure, and emerging technologies to build more flexible and efficient IT ecosystems?
Kubernetes platforms are the solution to bring cloud-native platforms into the own data centre. Kubernetes is open source software and every Public Cloud is providing also Kubernetes platforms in the cloud. With Service Mesh you can use Istio or Envoy as open source software to connect all those clusters and sync data between. So you can create a bridge between mainframes with Linux based Kubernetes platforms to cloud infrastructure together with emerging technologies. Apache Kafka is a good example for enabling data streaming between different platforms. KServe can be used for syncing AI between different Kubernetes platforms. That makes the ecosystem more flexible and efficient.
You have been recognized as an IBM Champion for multiple years. What does this recognition mean to you, and how has your involvement in the technology community shaped your professional journey?
The IBM Champion recognition is approving that I am interacting pro all in the open source community and pro IBM for bringing all together with the goal to keep open source up to date on the mainframe. IBM Champions are an Enabler community teaching others in the direction of IBM technologies, giving presentations and are watched as role models/Experts in the IBM world. I have been recognized directly after my Bachelor degree and became well known in the IBM community on this way really fast. I am called an IBM Expert for open source on the mainframe and most people are reaching out to me, if they need IBM Z hardware for development or if there are some communication problems with IBM with rejections as a result. A good success example this year was a meeting with open source Cobol Compiler Developers (gcc and GNUCobol) at FOSDEM, where we have received Developer VMs for them and they can improve the open source Cobol for s390x now.
You were nominated as a Woman in AI in the “Women Leading AI Change” category. How do you see open source, Linux, and mainframe technologies contributing to the development and adoption of AI?
I am calling the latest IBM z17 & LinuxONE V as the “modern AI mainframe”. The Telum processor has been made for AI applications and the Spyre card can be used for small AI training. If IBM is providing the required hardware for the open source community, the software can be tested and verified also for AI and other new features on the mainframe. I am working with automated tests based on OpenQA for verifying the functionality with Linux and upstream Python. But IBM is adding the compatibility features into IBM adopted Python software with “IBM accelerated Python” and with special self-developed Compilers. Also the Kubernetes Operator for the Spyre card is only available for OpenShift. Based on that, IBM is excluding the open source community with all innovations outside of the IBM world. In my case, I try to combine all that exists and work together. Python for AI is working on different platforms on all Linux distributions. You can stream AI across those platforms based on open source software. The last step is the possibility to use also every hardware feature as open source software for the correct use case, for what the hardware is made.
Through conferences, training sessions, and hackathons, you actively share your technical knowledge. What role do these platforms play in encouraging collaboration, developing future talent, and making complex technologies more accessible?
I am living the knowledge sharing culture together with many other IBM Champions.
It is well known that most universities don’t provide mainframe related courses anymore. Also, Open Source Developers have got a misunderstanding of Big Endian architectures really often. That is where I jump in with trainings, conference talks and mentorship for the next generation of Linux on Z Developers. Most of my openSUSE zSystems team are educated by myself or friends. They stay, because they enjoy this open exchange fostering collaboration as a result. If you can understand the different system types better, you can provide also more complex technologies. You can achieve more together than alone! Many people think, Open Source Developers are sitting alone and publish code. We can not provide such innovations with complex technologies without collaboration and education. Meeting the community every year for a conference with knowledge sharing and common discussions, provides the foundation for further development and a good understanding about new technologies.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your technology career, and how did you overcome them?
My biggest challenge in my career was, that I am not accepted as a technical Expert from all male Managers. That does not count for all Managers. But most in every company, there were Managers not supporting women in their career. Male colleagues have received promotions and listening to women had no value. The solution is finding male colleagues as Allys supporting you in such situations. They can help and repeat your ideas as good ideas for solutions and reference it as your ideas then. That has helped me a lot in the job.
What barriers do women still face in technical fields such as open source, infrastructure engineering, and AI, and what practical steps can organizations and industry leaders take to create more inclusive environments?
The funny case is, that there are less barriers in the open source world than in the Enterprise world. The open source community is open for everybody, unimportant which education, gender or country. Meritocracy is the foundation for being allowed to grow and that everybody can take over responsibility. So, I was already nominated as an openSUSE Board Member after 4 years in the openSUSE community. The infrastructure engineering is a male dominated field with many attacks against young technical women. You need the support of mentors and managers for growing in the field. It is good, that many companies provide already mentorship programs. But industry leaders should keep in mind, that managers can ignore good meant hints also if you are speaking everywhere about gender equality. Speaking is not enough! Doing and checking the behaviour is also required. We, at Kyndryl, have got a KIN network for exchange, how we can improve us in this direction. We share best practices and read books together.
As AI, cloud computing, Linux, and mainframe technologies continue to evolve, what major changes do you expect to see in the technology landscape over the next five years?
AI will change our work places. We will be more Analysts and Reviewers instead of Developers. The required knowledge for doing our job is the same, because we have to check the AI results. But AI will be our Co Worker supporting us. The industry is doing wrong things with not hiring young people, because they want to replace the tasks with AI. How do you want to receive the required Professionals for in 10 years? The job starters of today are the Professionals of tomorrow. In the best case, you invest into the next generation with creating tandems of a Junior and a Senior, that the Juniors can grow faster than in the past in their area. The technology landscape can be developed faster today. In 5 years, that will be more. Also the technologies become more complex and we should take more eyes on protecting our it infrastructure with post-quantum cryptography and related technologies.
Not only AI can create attacks against systems. Also Quanten Computers can break algorithms. That all for protecting our systems can be developed based on open source software and can be integrated into Linux distributions. We should create secure open source AI, use post-quantum technologies in Cloud Computing, the same as on the mainframe and should protect our it infrastructure against future possible attacks.
What advice would you give to young women who want to build careers in open source, DevOps, Linux, AI, or other emerging technology fields.
They should create a network, where they can learn and grow. Knowledge is key for further qualifications and good jobs. Innovation comes mostly from the open source community. Therefore, you should join there and go to conferences, if you want to know all about the latest emerging technology fields. That includes also DevOps, Linux and AI.