Andrew's longtime friend, mentor, and PowerShell legend Josh King joins The PowerShell Podcast to celebrate the tenth anniversary and version 1.0 release of his popular open-source module BurntToast, which powers customizable Windows toast notifications. Josh shares the story behind the project’s evolution, the challenges of maintaining an open-source module with millions of downloads, and the balance between community expectations and personal well-being.
In addition to diving into BurntToast’s new actionable notifications and real-world use cases, Josh and host Andrew Pla reflect on their shared history in the PowerShell community, the importance of mentorship, and how taking small steps (like creating a GitHub repo or sharing a script) can lead to huge career growth.
Key Takeaways:
- BurntToast hits version 1.0 – After ten years of development, BurntToast now includes support for actionable notifications, letting users interact directly through PowerShell-based Windows alerts.
- Open-source and burnout – Josh discusses the pressures of maintaining a high-profile module and the importance of setting boundaries while giving back to the community.
- Mentorship and community matter – Simple encouragement, open sharing, and small contributions can transform careers and strengthen the PowerShell ecosystem.
Guest Bio:
Josh is a Senior Infrastructure Operations Engineer at Chocolatey Software and a former Microsoft MVP. He has a long history working within Windows and VMware environments and has a passion for all things PowerShell and automation.Resource Links