The PowerShell Podcast

This episode captures the energy of PowerShell Summit through two conversations, one with Gilbert Sanchez and one with Joshua Dearing. The discussion moves from open source maintenance and the future of PowerShell in AI workflows to the human side of technical communities, including burnout, neurodiversity, mentorship, and the value of showing up in person. It also highlights how PowerShell can change careers over time, not just by teaching syntax, but by opening doors to better communication, stronger community ties, and bigger technical thinking.

Key Takeaways:
· Community is often the unlock, not just the tooling. Both conversations reinforce that Summit’s real value is the people, the hallway conversations, and the sense that learning gets easier when you have others around you who are willing to help.
· Sustainable technical growth matters more than short bursts of output. Gilbert talks about burnout, open source maintenance, and creating healthier ways to contribute, while Andrew connects that to ADHD, mental health, and building a career that can last.
· PowerShell is a starting point for much bigger opportunities. Joshua’s story, from community member to module author, reflects a broader theme in the episode that small steps, taken consistently, can completely reshape what kind of work you can do and who you can become in the field.

Guest Bio:
Gilbert Sanchez is a Staff Software Development Engineer at Tesla, specifically working on PowerShell. Formerly known as "Señor Systems Engineer" at Meta. A loud advocate for DEI, DevEx, DevOps, and TDD.

Resource Links:
· PSake: https://psake.dev
· Gilbert Sanchez links: https://links.gilbertsanchez.com
· Gilbert Sanchez blog: https://gilbertsanchez.com

Josh is a systems administrator with a philosophy degree and a helpdesk origin story. He's a speaker, open source contributor, creator of ModuleExplorer, and a PDQ Sysadmin Hall of Fame winner. He's a firm believer that the best script is the one you don't keep to yourself.

· Joshua Dearing's website: https://dearing.dev

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XJAbZgOVMF4

With PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2026 opening this Monday, April 13th, this episode brings back one of the most respected names in the PowerShell community: Jeff Hicks. Andrew sits down with Jeff to dig into what makes the Summit special, the organic community that grew from those earliest events, and what it actually feels like to watch people go from struggling beginners to confident PowerShell practitioners. They also get into the big question hanging over everyone in IT right now: what does AI actually mean for the future of PowerShell professionals? Jeff shares his take on the "squishy bits" of scripting that AI still can't replicate, why learning the core PowerShell paradigm matters more than ever, and how he personally uses AI as a collaborator rather than a shortcut. It's a conversation about community, craft, and what it means to actually know your tools. 
 
Key Takeaways: 

Learn the foundation first, tools second. Jeff's consistent message over decades of teaching: don't start with Azure commands or specific modules. Start with the PowerShell paradigm — objects, the pipeline, managing at scale — and the rest becomes much easier to pick up over time. 

AI is a co-pilot, not a replacement. Jeff uses AI to get over specific technical hurdles, not to generate finished code. His concern isn't that AI will write bad scripts — it's that the next generation may skip the foundational learning that lets you recognize when AI gets it wrong. 

The PowerShell community is genuinely welcoming, and showing up matters. Whether it's Summit, a local user group, or Discord, getting into rooms with other PowerShell people can be a career changer. The hallway conversations are half the value. 

 

Guest Bio: 
Jeff Hicks is a veteran IT professional with 35 years of experience, a long-time Microsoft MVP, and one of the most recognized voices in the PowerShell community. He's the author and co-author of several foundational PowerShell books, a Pluralsight course creator, and the publisher of the premium newsletter Behind the PowerShell Pipeline. He's been teaching and writing about PowerShell since the very beginning and continues to focus on the human side of scripting — the parts that go beyond syntax and into craft. 
 

Resource Links: 

Jeff Hicks' hub (links to everything): https://jdhitsolutions.github.io 

Behind the PowerShell Pipeline (newsletter & book on Leanpub): https://leanpub.com/behind-the-pspipeline 

Jeff's Pluralsight courses: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/jeff-hicks 

Connect with Andrew: https://andrewpla.tech/links 

PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2026 (April 13-16, Bellevue, WA): https://www.powershellsummit.org 

PDQ Discord (PowerShell scripting channel): https://discord.gg/pdq 

PowerShell Wednesday (weekly on PDQ's YouTube/Discord): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vdfFswmREQ&list=PL1mL90yFExsix-L0havb8SbZXoYRPol0B&pp=0gcJCbcEOCosWNin 

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ceB-3QGbvBA

Andrew welcomes back Dual MVP and Intune aficionado Hailey Phillips for a wide-ranging conversation covering her project IntuneStack, the value of DevOps principles in endpoint management, and the mindset behind consistent skill-building. The two dig into conference culture, the importance of community, mentorship, and why showing up every day — even for just ten minutes — matters more than waiting for inspiration to strike.

Key Takeaways:

IntuneStack in action: Hailey's CI/CD-influenced PowerShell project manages Intune policy deployment across dev, test, and prod groups using promotion gates rather than expensive separate tenants — a more resilient, consistent, and auditable approach to endpoint management.

Consistency over inspiration: Whether it's PowerShell, the gym, or mentoring, Hailey's philosophy is the same: stop waiting to feel motivated and just start small. Ten minutes a day compounds over time, and momentum is something you build, not something you wait for.

Community is a career asset: Conferences like PowerShell Summit and PSConfEU aren't just about the sessions — they're about building a support system. Having people who can sanity-check your thinking is one of the most underrated advantages in a tech career.

Guest Bio:
Hailey Phillips is a Systems Engineer, Microsoft MVP, and Professional Pokémon Trainer. She specializes in automation, endpoint management, and modern workplace strategy, bridging the gap between traditional IT and DevOps. Hailey’s work focuses on building pragmatic, scalable solutions using tools like PowerShell, Microsoft Graph, Intune, and Azure Arc. When she’s not deep in tech, you’ll probably find her skiing in the Cascades, lifting heavy things, or at a metalcore show with a strong cup of coffee in hand.

Resource Links:

Intune Stack on GitHub - https://github.com/AllwaysHyPe/IntuneStack

Practical Automation with PowerShell by Matthew Dost - https://www.manning.com/books/practical-automation-with-powershell

GliderUI Cross-platform GUIs - https://github.com/mdgrs-mei/GliderUI

PDQ Discord - https://discord.gg/pdq

Hailey Phillips Website - https://www.allwayshype.com/

Connect with Andrew - https://andrewpla.tech/links

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/L97ePN7UtGY

Andrew welcomes back Morten Mynster for a follow-up conversation that's essentially a highlight reel of one Morten's public journey over the past year. Morten shares updates on three PowerShell modules he's released, including his standout LeastPrivilegedMSGraph module, and walks through a security issue he discovered and responsibly reported to Microsoft. Along the way, Andrew and Morten reflect on how putting your work out publicly can lead to unexpected career wins, how AI is reshaping the way people learn and write code, and why getting hands-on is still the best way to actually understand anything. Morten is also two weeks into a new job as a cybersecurity consultant, which came directly from his open-source work.

Key Takeaways:

Publishing your work publicly, even to a small audience, creates opportunities that a resume never could. Morten landed a job offer without ever applying, simply because someone found his module on LinkedIn.

The best way to learn something technical is still to get hands-on with it. Reading about it is rarely enough, whether that's PowerShell, APIs, or anything else in IT.

AI is a powerful accelerator, but over-relying on it without a foundational understanding means you won't be able to fix things when they break, and you risk introducing security vulnerabilities you don't even recognize.

Guest Bio:

Morten Mynster is a cybersecurity consultant and an active member of the PowerShell and security community. Over the past year, he's published three PowerShell modules focused on Microsoft Graph permissions and actionable messages in Outlook, discovered and reported a security vulnerability to Microsoft, and begun public speaking. He blogs at mynster9361.github.io and is active on LinkedIn and Discord.

Resource Links:

Andrew's Links: https://andrewpla.tech/links

PDQ Discord: discord.gg/PDQ

Morten's Blog: mynster9361.github.io

Morten on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenmynster/

Least Privileged MS Graph Module (GitHub): github.com/Mynster9361/Least_Privileged_MSGraph

Actionable Messages Module (GitHub): github.com/Mynster9361/ActionableMessages

Actionable Messages Module blog post: mynster9361.github.io/posts/ActionableMessagesModule

PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit: powershellsummit.org

PowerShell Conference Europe (PSConfEU): psconf.eu

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VIEbain7IIg

K-12 IT veteran Chris Thomas joins The PowerShell Podcast to share his 26-year journey in educational technology, from a high school IT internship to becoming an Endpoint Cloud Systems Architect supporting multiple school districts in Michigan. Chris discusses how PowerShell helped him automate identity management, investigate network incidents, and streamline large-scale IT operations across complex school environments.
The conversation also dives into mentorship, Don Jones’ influence through Be the Master, the value of community involvement, and the mental health challenges IT professionals face. Chris shares practical lessons on automation, presenting at conferences, overcoming imposter syndrome, and how putting yourself out there can open doors throughout your career.

Key Takeaways:
• PowerShell fundamentals unlock huge opportunities — learning commands like Get-Command, Get-Help, Get-Member, and Get-Module can help you explore and automate almost anything.
• Automation is essential in resource-constrained environments like K-12 IT where staff wear many hats and must support large systems with limited manpower.
• Community participation accelerates growth — presenting, attending conferences, and contributing scripts can build confidence, connections, and career momentum.

Guest Bio:
Chris Thomas is an Endpoint Cloud Systems Architect supporting multiple K-12 school districts in Michigan through a regional educational service agency. With more than two decades of experience in educational IT, Chris focuses on automation, endpoint management, and infrastructure architecture. He is an active contributor to the Michigan K-12 technology community, regularly presenting at conferences such as MAEDS and MMS/MOA, and sharing PowerShell scripts and tools through his GitHub projects.

Resource Links:
Chris Thomas GitHub – https://github.com/chrisATautomatemystuff

Connect with Andrew - https://andrewpla.tech/links

PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit – https://psappdeploytoolkit.com

Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches – https://www.manning.com/books/learn-powershell-in-a-month-of-lunches

PDQ Discord – https://discord.gg/PDQ

MAEDS Conference – https://maeds.org

MMS / MOA Conference – https://mmsmoa.com

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/k4n6FWzDPUk