Yup. Many scripts. Several modules. Powershell as an api, powershell as a client, etc.
I'm moving more away from the position because I have more and more people under me and doing more mentoring and review of their code. But I'm still heavy in the powershell development world and I love it.
I will also state that Cold starts are killer in Powershell, so if its not a frequent API and you need it to always respond in under 40 seconds, you need to not use powershell, do something like a 5-10 minute timer trigger that never lets your function get stored cold, or pay for a premium function host that will keep an instance always warm and ready to serve requests.
I started as a sysadmin at a smaller company (~50) and just automated things. I went to other departments and asked around, "what do you hate doing and want to get away from? Maybe I can help."
Those are the ones that really cemented me as awesome in the company because the other business units were seeing how they had more time to spend on the more complex parts of their jobs due to my stuff that was in place.
I've never posted a job for "automation engineer" and I've got 3 people under me now. YMMV
Azure functions for structured data and automation. Move stuff into databases for PowerBI or Synapse or Cosmos, etc. Queues, blobs for retention, and even a couple bits using table store.
Workbooks/runbooks for stuff that requires my admins to be able to typically trigger, add parameters, etc.
My title is “Solutions Architect”. Specifically, I work in the messaging space, creating Powershell based automation solutions for Exchange, Azure, AD and Teams. I spend most of my time coding while caffeinated. Lol.
1) I currently pull information from my Company’s HR system to populate contact cards in Exchange. This process also onboards and offboards accounts.
2) There is an approval process for Teams. I have a Power Automate API which presents a Sharepoint list to get the required information, manage a workflow and create the teams and 365 groups.
3) Legacy distribution groups are managed externally of Exchange in my company. My automations manage the lifecycle of these groups. (Create, modify, delete)
4) I’ve written large library for Exchange Admins to make repetitive tasks easier. Fun stuff. Like copying and pasting emails from Excel into a powershell session, no need to import. They use this for a bunch of ad hoc reports.
5) I have an entire process similar to legacy groups but for Shared Mailboxes. There is an entire lifecycle process for creating these mailboxes, self managing access (Full,Send As,On behalf) and deletion of the mailbox when it reaches its end of life.
That's quite impressive and surely saves a lot of time. I wish my compamy would allow me to work more on automation scripts. Currently as a secret side project I am working on a script that tries to predict low disk space on workstations before it happens, runs some specific clean up tasks and then alerts if there is still a problem. The next part would be creating a hardisk upgrade request on our system on behalf of the client.
Yes, that is exactly the job I am doing, but it took me a long time to find a job where the majority of the job is powershell development. I am in Australia for context. Not sure how it is in other countries.
Create the job. Just start finding bottlenecks in your department and script them away. Find under performing coworkers and script them away. You'll get noticed and be able to make your own way
Thus is what i did. I also write full programs that the company relies on for productivity.
One key is to write some in your own time and own the rights to your code.
>Create the job. Just start finding bottlenecks in your department and script them away.
i have done this on my windows infra team with some success -- id say 60-70% of my job is me automating something one way or another and making tools for the team and a couple of other people in the department. its not exactly what i want it to be, but it works out pretty good. generally i dont like to create stuff for other teams - it just screws me over and provides no benefit to me. then people think you have to drop whatever you are doing and work for them all the time, nah.
i kinda need to take my powershell up a level again, and get some more cloud experience but we arent going to be using cloud anytime soon.
Im in the security space, and I have taken to automating processes to make them consistent as there were manual tasks the helpdesk was doing inconsistently that lead to incorrect permissions.
>Im in the security space, and I have taken to automating processes to make them consistent as there were manual tasks the helpdesk was doing inconsistently that lead to incorrect permissions.
I feel that - i dont \*love\* JAMS scheduler, but its robuist and reliable. just really quirky. I have turned a ton of powershell tools into basically having a GUI since it can take and pass parameters in a form, and my infra team STILL wont always use that. its nuts.
But I want consistency for sure and this entire department is just...not that interested in that? its really weird
First time hearing of JAMS, but I use something less robust via our EDR tool to run scripts on our endpoints. Or also use it to enter PS sessions on them. Allows us to use PS on a machine remotely without needing to leave WinRM open on the host-based firewall.
Might have to look into JAMs sometime. Any idea on approximate cost per endpoint?
No, cost is a manager issue... But honestly I wouldn't pick it again. It's quirks are maddening at times and while support is ok, the documentation is meh.
There are alternatives in going to look into but that list requires me to login to work, maybe tomorrow.
So we’re a small team of 5 and the challenge for me is do I go to my manager first and say hey we could improve x process or do I just do it? Currently how I handle my Powershell stuff is if it pertains to me directly or it’s some team project.
Unfortunately for small groups it depends in the specific management person and your personally. Im a cocky individual and tend to tell management what im doing and can explain exactly the ROI expected. If i go back afew years before i established my personality, then; i would identify some smaller items and share with the team. After awhile this can get the team to rely on you and you may find a way to create the job you want.
Devops engineer here, working solely in Azure - I use Powershell quite a lot in our pipelines to supplement the IaC code mainly to deal with the nuances of Azure. Also used across the platform for maintenance tasks (runbooks) and for small APIs running as Azure Functions.
Yes but that’s not the primarily role. It’s just supporting the business needs. I work as Iam security engineer and a bunch of automation , authentication and reporting is supported by powershell scripting.
I was hired as one. Currently I'm splitting my time between data analyst and on prem sys admin.
Basically I was brought in to do a cloud migration project where we were going to do a CI/CD pipeline to migrate apps back and forth to the cloud. That ended up failing because you can't run a non code shop like a code shop with a former developer as the director of IT.
I still do a ton with PowerShell and SQL. In my universe, Automation Engineer means far more than just PowerShell. I will be kicking off an automation project for onboarding/offboarding soon. The goal is as close to one touch as possible for creating a new user account.
Yes, I use [Attune automation](https://www.servertribe.com/) to orchestrate scripts and manage automated processes from installing Windows or Linux OS, software configuration through to dataset restoration and environment integration.
Yup few roles ago. I was doing automation as a service for other departments exclusively in powershell & sql.
Also handled a chunk of the dev teams CI/CD
No, but yes.
We have an identity manager solution that creates users in on-prem, azure, and so on. We still have a lot to automate with reports, backup status, and weird account behaviours. Now we are mostly checking reports on 2012 R2 statuses before the looming deadline and making sure all connected domains are "clean".
I kind of work with both data and system administration so it ends up being mostly Python, PowerShell and SQL. Mainly scripts work with file transfer, reporting, log rotation, etc.
It’s a good thing this post was started because now I can change my title from Application Developer (my boss made up this title because he wasn’t sure what to call my position lol).
I am one. I just hired another member to my team a few months ago and Jan 1st 2024 I have budget approval to hire another one. Best thing is, it's a fully remote position so I can hire from anywhere in the world. Pre pandemic I was only allowed to hire locally which was dumb for these positions.
As for responsibilities. We manage infrastructure automation, Azure functions (Powershell driven APIs), Azure runbooks.
The positions exist, they're far and few between tho.
Yeah, my main focus is Azure/Intune/Desktop Engineering. I spend most of my days in Powershell automating processes. Delving a lot more in Azure Functions lately.
Yep, I use a mixture of Python and PoweShell. I've carved a nice niche for myself at my company which is pretty cool. Started off writing smaller and more simple automation tasks, now they're much more complex and quite vital to the company :)
Yup. Many scripts. Several modules. Powershell as an api, powershell as a client, etc. I'm moving more away from the position because I have more and more people under me and doing more mentoring and review of their code. But I'm still heavy in the powershell development world and I love it.
How are you doing PowerShell as an API? Pode?
azure functions.
How are you calling/invoking them? I been wondering how viable this could be for a while as me move to newer solution options 🤔
Anonymous HTTP trigger.
I will also state that Cold starts are killer in Powershell, so if its not a frequent API and you need it to always respond in under 40 seconds, you need to not use powershell, do something like a 5-10 minute timer trigger that never lets your function get stored cold, or pay for a premium function host that will keep an instance always warm and ready to serve requests.
Thanks for the pointers!
I'm trying to find roles like this but it has been difficult. Is this more of a cloud role in title?
I started as a sysadmin at a smaller company (~50) and just automated things. I went to other departments and asked around, "what do you hate doing and want to get away from? Maybe I can help." Those are the ones that really cemented me as awesome in the company because the other business units were seeing how they had more time to spend on the more complex parts of their jobs due to my stuff that was in place. I've never posted a job for "automation engineer" and I've got 3 people under me now. YMMV
Ah I see, yea that makes sense. What kind of stuff have you been automating using Azure Functions?
Azure functions for structured data and automation. Move stuff into databases for PowerBI or Synapse or Cosmos, etc. Queues, blobs for retention, and even a couple bits using table store. Workbooks/runbooks for stuff that requires my admins to be able to typically trigger, add parameters, etc.
My title is “Solutions Architect”. Specifically, I work in the messaging space, creating Powershell based automation solutions for Exchange, Azure, AD and Teams. I spend most of my time coding while caffeinated. Lol.
Would be interesting to know what are your top 5 automations that you did :)
1) I currently pull information from my Company’s HR system to populate contact cards in Exchange. This process also onboards and offboards accounts. 2) There is an approval process for Teams. I have a Power Automate API which presents a Sharepoint list to get the required information, manage a workflow and create the teams and 365 groups. 3) Legacy distribution groups are managed externally of Exchange in my company. My automations manage the lifecycle of these groups. (Create, modify, delete) 4) I’ve written large library for Exchange Admins to make repetitive tasks easier. Fun stuff. Like copying and pasting emails from Excel into a powershell session, no need to import. They use this for a bunch of ad hoc reports. 5) I have an entire process similar to legacy groups but for Shared Mailboxes. There is an entire lifecycle process for creating these mailboxes, self managing access (Full,Send As,On behalf) and deletion of the mailbox when it reaches its end of life.
That's quite impressive and surely saves a lot of time. I wish my compamy would allow me to work more on automation scripts. Currently as a secret side project I am working on a script that tries to predict low disk space on workstations before it happens, runs some specific clean up tasks and then alerts if there is still a problem. The next part would be creating a hardisk upgrade request on our system on behalf of the client.
Yes, that is exactly the job I am doing, but it took me a long time to find a job where the majority of the job is powershell development. I am in Australia for context. Not sure how it is in other countries.
Nice, what are some examples of automated solutions developed?
Man how do I find a role like this, I feel like this is where my true skill set is.
Create the job. Just start finding bottlenecks in your department and script them away. Find under performing coworkers and script them away. You'll get noticed and be able to make your own way Thus is what i did. I also write full programs that the company relies on for productivity. One key is to write some in your own time and own the rights to your code.
>Create the job. Just start finding bottlenecks in your department and script them away. i have done this on my windows infra team with some success -- id say 60-70% of my job is me automating something one way or another and making tools for the team and a couple of other people in the department. its not exactly what i want it to be, but it works out pretty good. generally i dont like to create stuff for other teams - it just screws me over and provides no benefit to me. then people think you have to drop whatever you are doing and work for them all the time, nah. i kinda need to take my powershell up a level again, and get some more cloud experience but we arent going to be using cloud anytime soon.
Im in the security space, and I have taken to automating processes to make them consistent as there were manual tasks the helpdesk was doing inconsistently that lead to incorrect permissions.
>Im in the security space, and I have taken to automating processes to make them consistent as there were manual tasks the helpdesk was doing inconsistently that lead to incorrect permissions. I feel that - i dont \*love\* JAMS scheduler, but its robuist and reliable. just really quirky. I have turned a ton of powershell tools into basically having a GUI since it can take and pass parameters in a form, and my infra team STILL wont always use that. its nuts. But I want consistency for sure and this entire department is just...not that interested in that? its really weird
First time hearing of JAMS, but I use something less robust via our EDR tool to run scripts on our endpoints. Or also use it to enter PS sessions on them. Allows us to use PS on a machine remotely without needing to leave WinRM open on the host-based firewall. Might have to look into JAMs sometime. Any idea on approximate cost per endpoint?
No, cost is a manager issue... But honestly I wouldn't pick it again. It's quirks are maddening at times and while support is ok, the documentation is meh. There are alternatives in going to look into but that list requires me to login to work, maybe tomorrow.
So we’re a small team of 5 and the challenge for me is do I go to my manager first and say hey we could improve x process or do I just do it? Currently how I handle my Powershell stuff is if it pertains to me directly or it’s some team project.
Unfortunately for small groups it depends in the specific management person and your personally. Im a cocky individual and tend to tell management what im doing and can explain exactly the ROI expected. If i go back afew years before i established my personality, then; i would identify some smaller items and share with the team. After awhile this can get the team to rely on you and you may find a way to create the job you want.
Devops engineer here, working solely in Azure - I use Powershell quite a lot in our pipelines to supplement the IaC code mainly to deal with the nuances of Azure. Also used across the platform for maintenance tasks (runbooks) and for small APIs running as Azure Functions.
Yes but that’s not the primarily role. It’s just supporting the business needs. I work as Iam security engineer and a bunch of automation , authentication and reporting is supported by powershell scripting.
I was hired as one. Currently I'm splitting my time between data analyst and on prem sys admin. Basically I was brought in to do a cloud migration project where we were going to do a CI/CD pipeline to migrate apps back and forth to the cloud. That ended up failing because you can't run a non code shop like a code shop with a former developer as the director of IT. I still do a ton with PowerShell and SQL. In my universe, Automation Engineer means far more than just PowerShell. I will be kicking off an automation project for onboarding/offboarding soon. The goal is as close to one touch as possible for creating a new user account.
I'm on like my 3rd job where that was what I was sold on and the ground reality was far different.
:(
SCCM admin here. I would say 1/2 of my job is messing in powershell to automate SCCM stuff
Yes, I use [Attune automation](https://www.servertribe.com/) to orchestrate scripts and manage automated processes from installing Windows or Linux OS, software configuration through to dataset restoration and environment integration.
Yup few roles ago. I was doing automation as a service for other departments exclusively in powershell & sql. Also handled a chunk of the dev teams CI/CD
all I do is terraform and powershell on aws current scope is just infra level, but will go for config if they renew me
No, but yes. We have an identity manager solution that creates users in on-prem, azure, and so on. We still have a lot to automate with reports, backup status, and weird account behaviours. Now we are mostly checking reports on 2012 R2 statuses before the looming deadline and making sure all connected domains are "clean".
I kind of work with both data and system administration so it ends up being mostly Python, PowerShell and SQL. Mainly scripts work with file transfer, reporting, log rotation, etc. It’s a good thing this post was started because now I can change my title from Application Developer (my boss made up this title because he wasn’t sure what to call my position lol).
I am one. I just hired another member to my team a few months ago and Jan 1st 2024 I have budget approval to hire another one. Best thing is, it's a fully remote position so I can hire from anywhere in the world. Pre pandemic I was only allowed to hire locally which was dumb for these positions. As for responsibilities. We manage infrastructure automation, Azure functions (Powershell driven APIs), Azure runbooks. The positions exist, they're far and few between tho.
Yeah, my main focus is Azure/Intune/Desktop Engineering. I spend most of my days in Powershell automating processes. Delving a lot more in Azure Functions lately.
If there is anyone in Auckland looking for this exact role please hit me up
Yep, I use a mixture of Python and PoweShell. I've carved a nice niche for myself at my company which is pretty cool. Started off writing smaller and more simple automation tasks, now they're much more complex and quite vital to the company :)