Presenting PowerShell for Developers to Florida.net UG in West Palm

I’ve been asked to present to the Florida.Net user group in West Palm this week, and chose to present on PowerShell for Developers, and here’s why.

There are incredible possibilities and utility in PowerShell, most of the marketing and discussion on the web is for I.T. administrators, rather than developers (though there are some signs this is changing.) The conventional wisdom (and humor) tells us that people in I.T. must fit into either of these categories. Here’s another perspective.

As a consultant and trainer, I need broad familiarity with technology. I’m focused on Windows, with some geek love for Linux :). SQL Server is my technology focus, but Windows Server setup and configuration are important to ensure it runs well. I have built and also supported .Net applications that rely on SQL Server, so the Frameworks and how they connect and interact with my SQL Server are important as well. Like many I.T. professionals I work with many interrelated technologies, and staying effective means knowing about both administering my servers and developing and supporting applications.

So while the I.T. industry seems to push us to specialize, there will always be a place for people who excel in both systems administration AND development, particularly in small companies where wearing many I.T. hats is a necessity. And as the technology continues to develop, learning new technology is essential to staying relevant and valuable in the marketplace. But time is a limited resource, so getting familiar and productive quickly is essential.

This brings us to why I believe PowerShell to be so important, especially to developers. PowerShell is built on the .Net Framework, so developers get a jump on the rest of us in learning and applying it. While the learning curve can seem steep, with a basic knowledge of this tool you can then leverage the tools of others, to solve problems and develop new solutions quickly. Microsoft’s latest Server 2012 comes with dozens of PowerShell modules built in. There are PowerShell modules for Microsoft technologies like IISWindows Azure, and Hyper-V. But not just Microsoft:  Amazon AWS, VMWareDell Servers, and many other companies understand that leveraging PowerShell is good for the customer and for business. 

So any technology professional on the Windows platform, whether administrator, developer or somewhere in between, should seriously consider investing the time to learn PowerShell so they can be more effective.

I’m excited about PowerShell. I’ve just been learning it over the last few months, and it has already helped me solve problems for clients, and made me a better consultant. So my goal for my presentation this week is to introduce both the basics of PowerShell and its possibilities to the developers in attendance, so they might get excited about PowerShell and how they can leverage it to be better at what they do.

I’ve been too long without blogging… I mean, who really reads this stuff? But if you took the time to read this, please contact me or comment below and let me know what you think, and perhaps you can help inspire me to continue blogging regularly. 🙂 Thanks!

Social

Content

Speaking

All Rights Reserved Theme by 404 THEME.