Kiersten Stokes
Software Developer at IBM
West Point, Mississippi, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolKiersten Stokes is a software developer with seven years of experience specializing in backend engineering for open-source AI and data platforms, currently at IBM in West Point, Mississippi. She has made significant contributions to high-profile projects such as Presto (improving Iceberg connector integration) and PyTorch (docs, tests, and bug fixes), demonstrating both systems-level understanding and attention to quality. At IBM she leads third-party integrations for Elyra and maintains Jupyter Enterprise Gateway, shipping features like pluggable pipeline catalogs and mentoring new open-source contributors. Her background in instructional design and elite academic record (M.S. in Computer Science, USC, 3.92 GPA) fuels her strength in clear documentation, developer education, and elevating project eminence. Known for streamlining workflows and improving error handling across codebases, she pairs pragmatic engineering with a collaborative, trust-first approach. Colleagues also note her penchant for infusing humor into teamwork, making complex collaboration more human.
7 years of coding experience
M.S., Computer Science, 3.92/4.0, M.S., Computer Science, 3.92/4.0 at University of Southern CaliforniaB.S., Chemistry, 3.89/4.0, B.S., Chemistry, 3.89/4.0 at Miami University
Github Skills (37)
pytorch10
learn-ruby-on-rails10
python10
user-manual10
formatting10
machine-learning10
basics10
text-formatting10
java10
javas10
sql10
apache-iceberg10
neural-network10
ice10
query-engine10
Programming languages (8)
Github contributions (5)
elyra-ai/elyra
Feb 2021 - Jan 2023
Elyra extends JupyterLab with an AI centric approach.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer & DevOps Engineer
Back-end Developer & DevOps EngineerContributions:1 release, 443 reviews, 146 commits in 1 year 10 months
Contributions summary:Kiersten primarily focused on improving error handling and messaging within the Elyra codebase, specifically addressing exceptions related to GitHub and KFP operations. They implemented more informative error messages for Python node execution, KFP namespace issues, and COS credential exceptions. Additionally, the user addressed issues related to pipeline execution, removing empty values from node properties and correcting rendering issues.
pythonjupyterlab-extensionpypijupyter-notebookanaconda
prestodb/presto
Jul 2023 - Feb 2025
The official home of the Presto distributed SQL query engine for big data
Role in this project:Backend Developer
Backend DeveloperContributions:99 reviews, 11 PRs, 2 pushes in 1 year 7 months
Contributions summary:Kiersten's commits primarily focus on modifying and enhancing the Iceberg connector within the Presto query engine. They removed requirements, separated modules, and fixed related tests, specifically addressing the integration with the Iceberg catalog. Further contributions include the addition of Iceberg table registration and unregistration procedures, as well as the re-factoring of Iceberg catalog implementation. This work demonstrates a deep understanding of the Iceberg integration and its interaction with the Presto infrastructure.
distributed-sqlquerybigdataquery-enginesql
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