The PowerShell Podcast

Andrew sits down with Leo D'Arcy, cloud solutions architect and PSConfEU speaker, to talk certificates, PKI infrastructure, and why so many organizations get it so spectacularly wrong. Leo shares how a decade of consulting work in remote access solutions pulled him into the world of Active Directory Certificate Services whether he liked it or not, and how that hands-on experience turned into conference talks and a genuine specialty. The conversation covers the difference between self-signed certs and proper CA infrastructure, why code signing deserves more attention than it gets, and how integrating signing into a CI/CD pipeline is less painful than it sounds. They also get into the "developer-ization" of IT, the underrated value of consulting experience for career growth, and why communicating across teams is just as important as knowing your PowerShell. Key Takeaways: Code signing through a CI/CD pipeline is a practical, scalable alternative to constrained language mode. By adding a signing step to your build process, you get cryptographic proof that scripts haven't been tampered with, without giving up flexibility in what you can run. Self-signed certificates are essentially the same as having no certificate at all. A proper PKI means having a chain of trust, a policy behind how certs are issued, and infrastructure that your organization actually manages and maintains. Technical depth only gets you so far. The people who advance in IT are the ones who can talk networking with network engineers, infrastructure with server teams, and business outcomes with leadership. Soft skills aren't a bonus, they're a multiplier. Guest Bio:Leo D'Arcy is a UK-based cloud solutions architect with nearly a decade of consulting background in Microsoft technologies, including Azure, remote access solutions, PKI, and Active Directory Certificate Services. He's a repeat speaker at PSConfEU and runs the Remote Access User Group community on Discord. He's currently focused on Azure landing zone architecture and large-scale PowerShell automation at a stakeholder advisory firm. Resource Links: Leo on GitHub: github.com/ld0614 PSConfEU: psconf.eu Leo on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/leodarcy.bsky.social Leo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leodarcy/ Connect with Andrew: https://andrewpla.tech/links Microsoft Remote Access User Group Discord: https://discord.aovpndpc.com/ The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BidUaXtwUNM

In this episode of The PowerShell Podcast, Andrew Pla is joined by Tara, a longtime IT professional who has officially started her PowerShell learning journey. Tara shares her honest experience transitioning from a GUI-first mindset to learning PowerShell fundamentals, including objects, verb-noun commands, variables, pipelines, and error messages. The conversation captures the real emotions of learning something new later in a career—confusion, frustration, breakthroughs, and growing confidence. The episode also explores learning strategies like daily practice, flashcards, typing commands instead of copying, and asking “beginner” questions without fear. Andrew and Tara emphasize the importance of community, mentorship, growth mindset, and psychological safety, encouraging listeners that learning PowerShell doesn’t require perfection—just consistency, curiosity, and support.Key Takeaways: Learning PowerShell deepens your understanding of IT as a whole, not just scripting, especially through concepts like objects, properties, and methods. Consistency beats intensity — small daily practice, repetition, and typing commands manually build real confidence over time. Community changes everything — asking questions, sharing struggles, and learning publicly makes progress faster and far more enjoyable. Guest Bio:Tara Sinquefield is an experienced IT professional and PDQ team member who is publicly documenting her PowerShell learning journey. Known for her honesty, curiosity, and willingness to ask the questions others may be afraid to ask, Tara represents the many IT pros who are discovering PowerShell later in their careers. Her journey highlights how learning fundamentals can unlock deeper technical understanding, confidence, and new opportunities. She is also a host of PDQ Live every weekResource Links:PDQ Discord – https://discord.gg/PDQTara's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-sinquefield-894a1a215/Connect with Andrew - https://andrewpla.tech/linksTara Writes Her First Script: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa0GYX9_vj8PowerShell Conference Europe – https://psconf.euPowerShell + DevOps Global Summit – https://powershellsummit.org The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZaPoS4mGW7s

Recently retired PowerShell icon Don Jones joins The PowerShell Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on career ownership, community leadership, and building a life that aligns with what you actually value. Don reflects on the difference between your job and your career, why investing in yourself pays off, and how asking better questions can change the way you influence decisions at work. The episode also dives into Don’s journey as a fiction author, his role in shaping the PowerShell community and Summit culture, and why real success comes from clarity, kindness, and helping others win. Key Takeaways:• Your employer owns your job, but you own your career—define your destination and build the skills to get there.• Strong careers are built on outcomes, not tools—focus on saving time, reducing errors, and delivering measurable business value.• Community scales when you empower others—create space for people to contribute, own wins, and multiply the impact beyond yourself. Guest Bio:Don Jones is a foundational figure in the PowerShell community, known for his decades of teaching, writing, and advocacy for automation and professional growth. A former Microsoft MVP, Don co-authored the widely influential Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches series and helped shape community culture through conferences, mentorship, and leadership. Now retired from full-time work, Don continues writing and publishing fiction, bringing the same clarity and craft to storytelling that made his technical teaching so impactful. Resource Links:• Don Jones Website and Books – https://donjones.com Andrew's links: https://andrewpla.tech/links • PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit – https://powershellsummit.org• Tech Impact (nonprofit mentioned) – https://techimpact.org• PowerShell.org – https://powershell.org• PDQ Discord – https://discord.gg/PDQ• PowerShell Wednesdays – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=PowerShell+Wednesdays The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xKh8rqCqMQg

Newly minted Microsoft MVP David Sass joins The PowerShell Podcast to talk about PowerShell notebooks, terminal tooling, and making automation approachable for teams that are hesitant to touch the console. David shares how he uses Jupyter/PowerShell notebooks as a practical “click-to-run” interface for colleagues, helping them safely run approved automation while keeping the logic documented, repeatable, and under source control. The conversation also dives into incident response automation, David’s journey from SharePoint engineering into security, and the surprising ways PowerShell can be used across Windows, cloud, and even Raspberry Pi lab clusters—while still staying focused on knowledge-sharing and building systems that don’t depend on one person. Key Takeaways:• Notebooks can remove friction for teams — combining documentation, code, and saved output creates a safer way for others to run automation without needing deep PowerShell confidence.• PowerShell scales incident response workflows — David explains how notebooks can log in, pull incidents, enrich data, and even auto-close noise, reducing UI-click fatigue for analysts.• Teaching makes you promotable — sharing knowledge reduces dependency on you, strengthens the team, and makes it easier for a business to grow your role without risk. Guest Bio:David is a Microsoft MVP and highly skilled SharePoint Guy who is focusing on Automation, Compliance, Security, Operational Excellence, Quality Assurance and hacking the unexpected out from the technology stack. Resource Links: David’s link hub – https://davidsass.io/ Andrew's links - https://andrewpla.tech/links PowerShell Spectre Console – https://pwshspectreconsole.com/ PowerShell Wednesdays – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=PowerShell+Wednesdays PDQ Discord – https://discord.gg/PDQ ClockworkPi (the handheld device shown/discussed) – https://clockworkpi.com The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y03EJYpZczo