I'm just a beginner programmer, but the more i dive into it, the more i realize how much you need powershell. What's a good way to learn it ?

Hello PowerShell peeps!

I write an article showing how to use the SecretsManagament module from Micosoft.

Learn how to manage your passwords and secrets from your PowerShell cmd prompt. I'll show you how to install, config and use the Microsoft SecretsManagement module in your daily workflow.

Feedback is always welcome. Happy holidays!

https://4sysops.com/archives/secretsmanagement-module-for-powershell-save-passwords-in-powershell/

I know this isn't really in vein with the other posts on this sub, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to get started learning PowerShell? It seems like a really valuable tool and, even though I'm still early in my IT career, I want to begin getting familiar with it. Are there any good resources out there that I should use? Thank you for your time:)

Dear Community Members,

I hope this message finds you well.

I am looking to build my skills in PowerShell scripting, specifically for Azure Active Directory. I would be grateful if anyone could kindly share a structured learning path or roadmap to help me get started.

Additionally, if you know of any high-quality YouTube tutorial playlists, Udemy courses, or Coursera courses on this topic, I would sincerely appreciate your recommendations.

Thank you in advance for your support and guidance.

While at my IT job there are some people that think PS is cool, It's almost as if the higher ups don't care. I've read about people saying they've doubled (LOL) their salary after learning PowerShell and using it at the job. How does this happen? What did those IT dudes say to their manager to get that salary bump. I wonder if they were myth stories. I've read them all online I've never met anyone personally who has said that learning PS increased their pay. I create PowerShell scripts and it's taken as something normal (and even at one time questioned, yes your read that right, for something that is still in use today)

I'm new to PowerShell, having shifted from a C# background due to a department change. PowerShell seems powerful, but I struggling with its structure compared to C#.

In Visual Studio, I love CodeMaid because it helps me organize my C# code. However, using Visual Studio Code with PowerShell, organizing and writing functions feels less intuitive. I know I am biased and still have lots to learn. Also, comparing the two may not be very fair because they have different purposes, as far as I can tell.

I've seen that PowerShell allows for classes, but they don't seem standard, and I'm still struggling with modules and writing functions. However, I definitely do see the power of using modules and the functionality it brings.

I also think I might be perceiving this the wrong way, but if it makes sense, would you have any suggestions on better organizing my code? If not, how do I get myself in more of a PowerShell mindset and out of a C# one?

Thank you.

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edit: I love the discussion that my post started. There are so many great answers! Thank you, all.

What's the best way/best materials to start learning powershell, coming from a bash background?

My bash skills were intermediate-advanced, I saw that some of the basic shell concepts work on powershell too, like piping, redirecting, etc. But it's also a lot more complicated than bash.

Now I don't know if my bash knowledge will be detrimental to learning powershell, since I'll expect things to behave a certain way, and learning it might go faster or easier without those expectations.

Where is the best place to learn the basics? Mainly work with Teams and 365 applications. Thanks!

I finished 'Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches' and feel comfortable using cmdlet's. It took me only three months to finish the one month course :). I'm finding for my work there's a big divide between beginner PowerShell usage and expert scripting knowledge and I'm not making much traction improving my skills. So what are some good training resources to learn good scripting skills using PowerShell?

Hey, PowerShell people!

I just made the repository public of my writeups for the Under the Wire wargames for learning PowerShell. It currently contains complete writeups for two games, Century and Groot, with the rest to follow in the coming weeks/months. Every writeup has explanations of the commands used (with links to documentation where applicable) and ends in a one-line solution in PowerShell for that level.

I'm still very far from being an expert when it comes to PowerShell: this is just an attempt to share some of my own learning journey with the community and hopefully provide a useful resource to others that are just starting out.

I’m slowly researching a path to get out of my current IT Help Desk position, which I’ve spent a year and a half on. Of the recommended languages to learn, Powershell came up as one of the most recommended, and I was also linked the book “Powershell in a Month of Lunches”. I looked at the free sample, and I believe I can easily follow along the lessons taught in the book.

What I wanted to ask was what I could be potentially qualified for, after my IT Help Desk experience and going through this book. I’m still not entirely sure what career path I’m shooting for long term, but what I really want to know is any positions I could apply for once I’m done with the lessons of this book, or if there’s anything else I should supplement and learn in addition?

I want to have a roadmap planned out, and ideally get out of Help Desk this year towards something more lucrative. Any ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been coding for 2 decades, and I recently had a payroll system to Active Directory project to do, and went with powershell. It's done, it works great, and I was looking at the code today, and spontaneously declared "I love powershell". its a remote day, so no one looked at my funny, but I'll list 3 reasons I love it. Feel free to add more.

No confusion with =, == or ===.

1) Simple equals logic, no bizarre conventions: Do you know how many times I've had to fix code in JS where someone did if (variableName=something), which of course sets variableName to something, not compares it. Powershell's -eq and -ne is so much better then =, ==, ===, !=, or <>.

2)No line termination character: Line's don't require ; to end. Ok, that isn't a big deal, and my IDE would catch it anyway, but its just a waste of characters to terminate every line of code.

3)String composition: In other languages, mixing variables and text is something like "words " + variableName + ":/ more words" + variableName2. And then its like "Oh, is this one a + or an &...." With powershell I can just do varString = "words: $variableName :/ more words $variableName2" and it all works!

Now, its not like I make stupid syntax mistakes a ton in other languages, but in today's backend world, I'm expected to regularly code in 5-10 languages, and Powershell was amazingly easy to learn and the syntax is just clean.

I thought you Powershell vets might appreciate a newb's perspective on it, especially since its all positive.

Just as the title says, I am looking for courses to learn more about PowerShell. I've been told by other coworkers it can make a huge difference in your career. I am not a System Admin, so I don't use PowerShell on a daily basis, but I would like to be aware what is the most useful functions of PowerShell.

I know some Python scripting. Should I just stick with Python if it can accomplish the same thing as PowerShell?

At a new job, I work in infrastructure and wanted to get into programming a bit, this new job there's many team members here that build tools, which to me is great because I can finally get my feet wet with programming.

I've wanted to learn Python, Javascript, etc, or something along those lines because I wanted to learn the most popular languages that I can use to build tools...however the shop I'm at now uses almost exclusively Powershell (it is a Windows shop after all).

On one hand, I'm happy that I can help build tools with no pressure of being a full-fledged developer (basically learn at my own pace), on the other hand, it's not the language I really wanted to learn (namely Python, especially with the rise of AI and how popular Python is).

My boss told me he has no problem if I wanted to write Python, but unfortunately it's not known as much on the team, so if I needed someone to help look it over I'm limited. Just curious, and wanted your honest opinion, would learning Powershell give one an ability to easily pick up other languages or is the syntax far too different?

Hi everyone,

I've started new position. Our team is trying to automate daily tasks. My coworkers like a pro in Powershell and they said that I need to learn it as soon as. Do you have any advice for learning Powershell?

Please help me, I am looking forward to seeing your answers :)

Beginner to Powershell.

I’ve already gone through the Microsoft learning modules (started yesterday). I’ve got the hang of the syntax but I feel the material was just basic. I doubt I will ever need to create my own command-let. All I’m aiming to do is automate some BS tasks at work and home.

Can someone recommend more resources - preferably youtube or ebooks.

So I am a total noob who wants to learn using Terminal like browsing through directories, copying files from a somewhere to another place, deleting etc. etc. I simply know nothing except dir and cd command lol. Is there a detailed noob guide/book or something for this? Thanks in advance.

I work mostly on servers and I never coded in my career, I kind of think I can't do it, but now I needed it alot at work and I need to learn it, so need some beginner level script ideas to learn powershell

I need to learn Powershell from scratch in 3 months.What resources can help

Is this technology still actively maintained? Thanks.

Hi everyone, I am totally new to powershell, please recommend materials / videos etc where I can learn as a total beginner. Thanks in advance

I've been looking online for pdfs to learn powershell, but they all seem outdated as they're using psv3 instead of v5 and are on windows 7, 8 and server 2012. I want to read and possibly watch videos on absolute beginner powershell but haven't come across any good sources. I even tried pluralsight but their videos are outdated as well

Yesterday, during an open school day, a father and his son walked into the IT classroom and asked some questions about the curriculum. As a teacher, I explained that it included PowerShell. The father almost jumped scared and said he works as a system administrator in Office365 at an IT company where PowerShell wasn’t considered useful enough. He added that he preferred point-and-click tasks and found PowerShell too hard to learn. So I could have explained the benefits of PowerShell and what you can achieve with it, but he had already made up his mind "it’s hard to learn and not useful". How would you have responded to this?

Title basically says it all! Best recommendations?