Meet the Community: PowerShell MVPs

Continuing with this month's "Meet the Community" theme, I'd like to introduce you to some of my fellow PowerShell MVPs. Why should you care? Well, mainly because these folks GOT the award by spending their own time helping folks like YOU use PowerShell! These are the ones to ask questions of when you want friendly, accurate answers. This isn't a complete list (that's onMicrosoft's site), but it's the MVPs who responded to my request for this concise information :).
 

Developers

These folks spend a lot of time in the nitty-gritty with PowerShell, often coding their own extensions. They probably know the most "under the hood" stuff, and can often explain things that seem weird or wrong.

Joel Bennet can be found on the #powershell IRC channel on FreeNode, and also haunts Twitter (@jaykul) and StackOverflow. His blog is HuddledMasses.org, and he's especially fond of working with WPF, UI automation, and hosting.

Jim Christopher is also a StackOverflow frequent-flier, and works especially with PSProviders and shell hosting. His blog is BeefyCode.com. 

Admins

Shockingly (or maybe not), not many PowerShell MVPs consider themselves to be "mainly admins." I actually do, and so does...

Richard Siddaway, author of a couple of PowerShell books over at Manning. He admits to having "maybe a hint of developer" in his blood, but otherwise specializes in WMI, AD, and Exchange. You'll find him answering questions at PowerShell.com, and blogging on MSMVPs.com. 

The Hybrids

This is where most PowerShell MVPs classify themselves: Mostly admins, but with a decent amount of coding experience. It's one reason so many of the PowerShell-related blog posts in the world look like programming blogs :) although these guys do recognize the fact that not every admin wants to be a coder - and PowerShell is a great way to get stuff done with minimal coding!

Vadims Podans of Latvia is one of the many non-US PowerShell MVPs. He specializes in PKI and cryptography, and answers security-related PowerShell questions on TechNet. His blog is in Russian and English (with different topics on each), and he even wrote a PKI management module for PowerShell.

Kirk Munro is one of the guys behind PowerGUI, and he's big into extending the shell via modules, proxy functions, and the like. He answers questions at PowerGUI.org, and has his own blog.

Tobias Weltner was the original mind behind PowerShell Plus, and he still answers questions at PowerShell.com, where he also keeps his blog. His specialty is Windows Server and Client, including AD.

Maximo Trinidad has broad interests: SQL Server, ETL, Office, file and folder management, and more. He's on Twitter @MaxTrinidad, and also hangs at the PowerGUI.org forums. He helps run the Florida PowerShell User Group, and has a blog.



So there you have it... some of my fellow MVPs. Guys to watch out for when you need an answer!