Betting on Yourself with Frank Lesniak

About this episode

Frank Lesniak discusses his journey in PowerShell, his Microsoft MVP status, and the importance of community involvement in tech.

Frank Lesniak joins Andrew Pla for a wide-ranging conversation that covers Frank's newly minted Microsoft MVP status, his journey through PowerShell, and what it looks like to build a real presence in the tech community. Frank talks through the pipeline struggles that tripped him up early on, how his VB Script and object-oriented background made the shift to PowerShell's object model feel disorienting, and how AI has quietly changed the way he approaches scripting today. The conversation takes a thoughtful turn as Andrew and Frank dig into impostor syndrome, the value of conference speaking, and how showing up consistently in the community compounds into a career. Frank also shares an update on DuPage Animal Friends, the nonprofit he serves, which supports one of the country's highest-performing open-admission animal shelters.Key Takeaways: The PowerShell pipeline is one of the most commonly cited stumbling blocks for newcomers, especially those coming from text-based scripting backgrounds. Learning to visualize what your objects look like at each stage of the pipeline, using tools like Get-Member, is a skill that pays dividends long term. Showing up at conferences and user…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Pla

Guest: Frank Lesniak

Topics covered

• PowerShell
• Microsoft MVP
• impostor syndrome
• community involvement
• scripting
• conference speaking

Keywords

• PowerShell
• Microsoft MVP
• scripting
• impostor syndrome
• community
• conference speaking
• DuPage Animal Friends

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Microsoft, DuPage Animal Friends, PDQ.com

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