I’ve stopped all technical PowerShell babbling for a moment to point out the newest tommymaynard.com accomplishment. In less than three years’ time, I’ve written 200 published posts. That’s over six posts per month for a few months under three consecutive years. About PowerShell. Written by me. With the hopes to help people learn about PowerShell, or find a solution to a problem.

Back soon with something new. Enjoy the weekend.

Don Jones, one of the bigger names in the PowerShell community, had an great post on his personal website. It was entitled, Stop Looking Forward. I liked it.

The idea behind his post was to stop looking to advance yourself and your career long enough, to give back to your community. Coming from Don, we can all safely assume, he’s speaking from experience. Whether he knows it, or not, he taught me for free, a time or two. It’s his job now, and so there needs to be dollar signs at some point in his help cycle, but I don’t think for a moment, that that’s what this was always about. It’s quite believable that he wants all of us to succeed. Writing is a talent, and so paying for his ability to explain these topic seems justifiable.

I remember right where I was standing when I decided I was going to give back to the PowerShell community, outside of just helping on various PowerShell forums, where I had been both learning and offering assistance, as I was able. No joke, but reading forums is a great place to learn. Before you know it, you’ll be able to help others learn those things you already have.

I was washing my hands in the bathroom sink at work, after I had recently read an article from a PowerShell MVP. He had a website, hisname.com, where he occasionally shared PowerShell themed articles. That was it, I thought. I’m going to register tommymaynard.com, and I’m going to write about PowerShell, too. I always had this concern that I didn’t know enough yet, but I went ahead and I did it anyway. You can likely give back to the PowerShell community before you even think you’re ready. I started well before I thought I would.

I wrote my first few posts on tommymaynard.com, felt quite confident, and then read an article from Jeffery Hicks. In his post, he clearly stated not to do rewrites on the help files, as they were already there. Damn.

It was around June 2014, and I accepted that challenge. Unbeknown to Jeffery, as though it would’ve made a difference anyway, I never did a help rewrite again. Instead of doing help rewrites, I just started writing. I’d find something interesting and I’d share it. I make something I wanted to keep, and so I’d post it for others to read about and learn from. It’s been two and half years now and this is my 181st post. That’s an average of greater than 6 posts per month. There’s no ads, or sponsors, and I don’t see a dime. I was at 100 posts in April 2016 when I was chatting with Neema, a Microsoft employee, about their MVP program at the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2016. I’ve written approximately 9 posts per month since then.

For those that haven’t asked, or have made an incorrect assumption, I’ve never been a PowerShell.org Hero, or a Microsoft MVP. After the Phoenix PowerShell Saturday in October 2016 — where I actually spoke — I answered a question from Will Anderson: “No, I’m not an MVP.” I was impressed, however, as I had convinced an MVP, that I was also an MVP, even when I wasn’t.

I’ve said it a few times now: I set out to be an MVP. I set out to add my name to the list of PowerShell.org PowerShell Heros. It’s about me in some way — I can agreed to that — but it all started with this desire to give back to others that were like me. I learned from the forums, so I helped on the forums; I learned from #PowerShell on Twitter, therefore, I contributed to Twitter; I learned from PowerShell blogs and started my own. A recognition would clearly indicate that setting out to help others, did in fact, help others. It would validate that I stopped looking forward, to help those around me. Those around me at work? Well, many of them get a weekly, PowerShell related email from, yours truly. I’ve written nearly 40 of them and plan to take it all the way to 52 — a full year of hey-learn-about-PowerShell-before-you-wish-you-did emails. If we want to promote from within, then let’s give those junior level, lower tier employees some skills; let’s get them interested in what we’ve found so fun. Let’s give back like Don has, like Jeffery has, like Will has, and June, too.

I’m going to quote Don, here — “At the end of the day, we should all measure our success by the impact we’ve made on our world, and in our communities.” I have no idea how long PowerShell will be around, or even how long I’ll be around, but I believe I’ve made an impact on my community. I’ve certainly set out to do that. As Don would, I urge you to do the same, if you don’t already.

Don says it better, so if you haven’t, go read that post already.

One of the things I like the most about PowerShell, is that it means I can work more than 40 hours per week. Now, what I don’t mean is that I work on PowerShell outside of the 40 hour week — although, I definitely do, because I’m hooked — but rather that PowerShell works for me, when I’m not even working.

For example, every day from 3:00 to roughly 3:45 a.m., it’s working for me. It’s doing what I told it to do; it’s executing; it’s taking a job I never wanted to do manually and seeing that it gets completed. Me? What am I doing during that time? Well, unless something’s gone seriously wrong, and I’m not just talking about work, then I’m asleep. I’m working and I’m sleeping, at. the same. time.

Ever expand the properties of an Active Directory group at 3 a.m.? If you did that in the GUI, then you were awake. Ever click that Members tab that early in the morning? If so, I bet you had wished you were sleeping. Ever remove a user from an AD group just hours before the sun was back up? I do it every day at 3:00 a.m., but I don’t.

This is one of the reasons that PowerShell is so powerful. It makes you more efficient. It makes you twice the employee. If there’s PowerShell for it, I can do it faster; I can do it more efficiently than the next person that doesn’t use PowerShell.

If you work, or want to work, in the Information Technology arena — both with Windows and now without Windows (yes, it’s likely come to your operating system of choice) — then make PowerShell a part of your skill set. Read Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches, Third Edition; watch the Microsoft Virtual Academy PowerShell 3.0 Jump Start, and yes, I’m aware PowerShell 5.1 for Windows is coming this month. That set of videos is still worth the time.

Be twice the employee, too. Complete tasks no one would want to do, while you’re sleeping. I’m going to do it again tonight.

I’ve followed Boe Prox’s lead the last two years in making some PowerShell resolutions (2015 and 2016). Let’s start with how I did, and didn’t do, in 2016.

• DSC genius: No…, I wouldn’t call myself a genius yet, as I still feel like I have plenty to learn. I look forward to getting my hands on the DSC Book being written by Don Jones and Melissa Januszko. Let’s hope work will cover the cost on that one.
• Stay active on PowerShell forums: Yes. I’ve continue to assist on PowerShell.org (not as much as the others…), Microsoft TechNet, Reddit, and even Facebook when there’s time.
• Read PowerShell in Depth: In progress. This is on hold as I finish up a copy of Amazon Web Services in Action. My employer is getting deep in the world of AWS, and I opted to be the AWS lead for my team.
• First module up on the PowerShell Gallery: Yes (and a script, too). I wrote a two function module that allows for foreground and background colors in the ConsoleHost without the need for Write-Host. The script, is a rewrite on a game I wrote a couple years ago called The 1 to 100 game. Check out the above links for more information.
• Nano Server: I wouldn’t consider myself much of a resource, but I’ve done some experimentation. There’s more to do here.

There’s one thing in particular that I didn’t even think was possible this year. In April, I was asked to speak at the Phoenix PowerShell Saturday event. I didn’t see that one coming, but sure enough, I did that in October, and I think that deserves mentioning.

I’ve continued to stay active on Twitter, and in the close of the year, have had several popular posts there. I’m still actively blogging here on my site (-gt 170 posts now), and linking them on Twitter. I learned a good amount by reading PowerShell content linked on Twitter, and so I’m still giving back here, and then there.

Oh, I also started what I called PSMonday at work. Each Monday I send out a brief PowerShell related email to help encourage those around me at work to embrace PowerShell. I’ve written over 35 PSMondays, and each has been shared with those that read this site, in addition to those with whom I work.

So, what’s in store for 2017? I’ll get back on the DSC train, but before I do, it’s time to put Pester under my belt in completion. I’m looking forward to The Pester Book by Don Jones and Adam Bertram. I like the idea of a reasonably priced book that’s well explained, as Don leads the way. Congratulations to Adam, however, as a collaboration project with Don has got to be exciting and rewarding. Don’s ability to explain the concepts, is up there at the top of PowerShell author elite.

Not PowerShell related, but I did buy a Python book this evening. I’d like to gain some more experience with Python, as well. As I was spending some time with it several month ago, I shared some simple examples with my then 9-year-old son. He’s seemed to catch on. I’ll be letting him read the book if he’s interested, as the book is actually intended for kids. What can I say, I’m intrigued. So I don’t feel so ridiculous, I will include this quotes from the page linked above: “An excellent introduction to programming for anyone interested in learning to program, regardless of their age.” 😉

Make some resolutions, too. It’s paying off for me, and it can help keep you on track. I’m still working toward the PowerShell.org Hero and Microsoft MVP awards, both of which will give my work for the PowerShell community some vindication. Not that I don’t already know, I’ve been a help for some.

Just a quick post to mention that tommymaynard.com has been up for two years this month. That’s June 2014 through 2016.

I remember early 2014 and thinking about buying the domain name, about the prospect of writing assistive PowerShell content, and about working to associate my name with Windows PowerShell. Two years later, and it’s been somewhat of a success — I didn’t know if I could do it, but I have. It’s almost difficult to believe, but I’ve been told that my efforts have helped people improve their knowledge of PowerShell, and even assisted in their careers. To help, was always the original idea. To learn it deeper, myself, was a welcomed benefit.

There’s no stopping here. This post is a just a brief intermission until the next topic.

Update: As of yesterday (June 7, 2016), I’ve renewed the tommymaynard.com domain for another two years. 🙂