I’ve been tinkering with scripting over the past month or two, and the power it has is unbelievable. With Powershell and batch, I’ve realized when scripting, we completely control windows. This kind of ability is very intriguing to me. So i’m just trying to figure out the best way to practice. Now I currently only script when my boss needs one built. Which, all I do is flip through forums and blogs and look at what other people have already built, then create something based on that. In the past when it comes to learning something in IT, I just find a video course that starts from beginning to end, like CBT nuggets, Infite skills, or the Bryant advantage. These guys take down topics from certifications, and break it down piece by piece, then show you how it would be relevant in the world. Does anything like this exist for Powershell? I really want to learn the basics, so I completely understand what I am doing, and minimize my trips to random forums and blogs.
Pluralsight has a great Fundamentals video series. I’m partial to my “Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches” book. It is specifically
For beginners and does break everything down.
So there’s a huge batch of those videos that correspond to the MoL book. The book does a better job of breaking down some of the you-can’t-figure-this-out-on-your-own concepts. Most of what I’ve got on YouTube makes great supplementary material, but it’s not the concise, coherent storyline in most cases - I wouldn’t rely on it as a primary source because you’ll miss some of the fine detail that ends up being frustrating.
Don also has a great series on CBT Nuggets that covers a ton of content from beginner topics all the way up to advanced stuff like remoting, reporting, and DSC. It comes in at around 31 hours! I’m almost ashamed to admit that I have watched the entire series, but it’s done me some good. Recommended!
I haven’t seen the Pluralsight stuff yet since my work provides the CBT Nuggets subscription for me, but it looks like they are grabbing up a lot of the talent in the IT and developer training world. Their prices looked pretty good too so they might be a good place to try out.
A good way to learn is to pick a task that you perform frequently, or takes a long time, and create a script to do it for you. This gives you practical experience, solves a problem and because the script is being used shows you how things can be improved