Learning Powershell

June 23, 2010 at 8:35 am (PowerShell) (learning, life long learning, pay me more, PowerShell)

I’ve been attending a Powershell fundamentals class with Don Jones (blog|twitter). If you read my blog you might be aware of the fact that I’ve posted a few PowerShell scripts in the past.  So why was I attending a fundamentals class? Because I didn’t know what I was doing. I knew going into the class that I needed a better grounding in the fundamentals of Posh, but after the first day of Don’s excellent class, I realized that I had been working with PowerShell and didn’t have a clue how it really worked.

Don’s class is excellent and I could spend a lot of time talking about just that (which I’m sure would make Don happy). However I want to concentrate on something that he said during class that really resonated because I think it’s true. You don’t hear “true” things all the time, so when one jumps up and bites you, it’s worth paying attention. I don’t have his exact quote written down, so this will be more than a bit of a paraphrase. Don laid down the argument that Microsoft is creating a two tier structure where low level admins will have a GUI and the real experts will be using PowerShell. He showed how some of the functionality available in AD is already split and he said that more and more products coming out of Microsoft are going to be showing this same split.

So why do I see this as important? Well, it’s simple really. I don’t want to be in the low level, second tier, LOWER PAID, MORE EASILY REPLACED, set of knowledge workers. I want to be in the group that really can make things go. I want to ensure my employability into the future (at least until I win the lottery… which will happen right after I start playing it). You may not like PowerShell. You may not like Microsoft, SQL Server, Windows or any of that stuff. You may be a devoted Mac-head (like Don, Brent, Aaron..). But if your job is related to managing Windows servers, SQL Server, Operations Manager, SharePoint, Exchange… you get the idea, regardless of how you feel about PowerShell and the rest, if you want to be better, more powerful, and more employable, you need to learn PowerShell.

The good news is, it’s not that hard. The better news is, you can contact Don and get into one of his classes. The even better news is, if you’re a lazy, good for nothing lay-about, like me, learning PowerShell will make you more efficient, which means more time to lay around doing nothing while still looking good for the boss. So for those of you who believed that they just didn’t need to learn PowerShell… well, you’re wrong. Go get started. I’d suggest learning the fundamentals first, not just hacking away at it like I did. Don’s book might be a good place to start (TFM…. [snicker]).