So When Ed Wilson told me that I was going to become an Honorary Scripting Guy, I was absolutely floored. For me, this is not just a career high, but a personal one as well. One that I’ve dreamed of for almost a decade.
When I started my career in IT, and decided that living the hell that was help desk wasn’t for me, I decided that I wanted to be something better. I picked up two books from Barnes and Noble that would effectively change my career. The first was a book on Systems Management Server 2003 – the predecessor to System Center Configuration Manager. The other, was Microsoft VBScript: Step by Step by none other than The Scripting Guy – Ed Wilson.
These two books set me on a career of configuration management, automation, and compliance. Patch management was already a passion of mine (if you worked on a help desk in the Sasser/Slammer era, you’d understand), and fit in perfectly with the other three; driving me towards a career of Patch Management, Security Compliance, and Automation. As times and technology changed, it was only logical that I did too. PowerShell and cloud technologies like Azure would become my guiding star; My new passion.
I credit Don Jones’ and Jason Helmick’s passion to get into the community that drove me to start down the path that I’ve been on the last year and a half. But it was Ed Wilson and Wally Mead that gave me direction to get to that point.
2015 was a roller-coaster for me. Receiving the Microsoft MVP in PowerShell a fantastic and humbling achievement. Then, at PowerShell Summit, I got to meet Ed Wilson for the first time. He encouraged me to write some articles for ‘Hey, Scripting Guy!’. Within a month, I had been given two of the highest honors that one could achieve in my line of work. It was amazing!
Shortly after, a major personal event effectively derailed my involvement in the community as I struggled to refocus and right the ship. I had to relocate, take on a new position, and start rebuilding. Over the last couple of months, PowerShell and Azure have been not only my career focus, but my therapy as well. I’ve always been big on puzzles and PowerShell and Azure have plenty of them to solve!
Teresa Wilson (@ScriptingWife and my adopted MVP mom!), and Sean Kearney (@energizedtech) have been instrumental in my revival with their kind words and guidance. I felt renewed. My writer’s block was lifted. I was back in the game. I could again share what I learned with the community. Thanks to you both for your help.
Ed Wilson gave me the chance to give back in a big way; and when he referred to my series on DSC as ‘WAY COOL’ on The Scripting Guys Facebook page, I was again blown away. Thank you, Ed, for again giving me an opportunity to give to the community.
I’m very fortunate to get to work with my career heroes on a regular basis. Receiving an honor from one of them…well, words cannot describe how I feel. I find myself again honored and humbled.
2016, look out!