One of the subjects that came up at the PowerShell event last week was how do you go about learning PowerShell.

If I was starting from scratch there are a number of things I would do:

1. Download and install PowerShell  - use a test environment.
2. Read the documentation that comes with PowerShell
   • The Getting Started and User Guide are a very good place to begin
3. Download and read Frank Koch’s free PowerShell books from  http://blogs.technet.com/chitpro-de/archive/2008/02/28/free-windows-powershell-workbook-server-administration.aspx
4. Don’t try and learn everything about PowerShell at once. Think about problems you need to solve. Think about how PowerShell can help.  Try to create a script to solve it. Use the Newsgroups to help. Repeat as necessary
5. Get involved in the PowerShell community.  Join in on the newsgroups and share your scripts.

Hope this helps.  There are other steps that come after this and I’ll cover them later.  Point 4 is probably the most important. Put PowerShell to work for you as soon as you can – you get more out of it that way and the time you spend learning will rapidly be repaid.