PowerShell After Dark: OnRamp, IoT, and finding your people
Aired May 18, 2026 | 65 min
It's PowerShell After Dark. Recorded live at the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit in Bellevue, Washington, host Andrew Pla takes his mic to the hotel bar for a series of candid conversations with attendees. The episode features four guests: Josh Gratton, an OnRamp scholarship recipient whose career pivot to junior systems engineer was fueled by PowerShell and the podcast; Mark Go, a first-time Summit speaker and attendee; Craig Mileham, a fellow podcast listener and Summit first-timer working in higher ed IT; and Matt Zaske, a longtime community member, conference speaker, and IoT enthusiast who ran a Home Assistant lightning demo. What connects all four conversations is the same thread Andrew keeps pulling on: Community makes everything better. Beginners belong here. Reach out. Take the risk. Start now.
Meet our guest
Josh Gratton is an IT professional who made a midcareer pivot from 15 years in a different field to the service desk, then leveraged PowerShell automation to earn a promotion to his company's systems engineering team. A 2026 OnRamp scholarship recipient, Josh attended his first PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit in Bellevue and left planning to present at a future Summit and bring a colleague along next year.
Mark Go is an IT professional and active member of the PDQ Discord community who attended the 2026 PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit. He served as Andrew's cameraman during the Summit's After Dark session and is known in the community for his IoT work, including speaking at Summit. He's a returning podcast guest, Powershell Wednesday speaker, and Summit speaker. Mark brings a hardware-forward perspective to PowerShell, with interests in soldering and embedded systems.
Craig Mileham is a PowerShell Podcast listener and Summit first-timer who works for an MSP in the higher ed space. He attended this year's Summit to absorb as much as possible and left energized to build internal tools for his help desk team and share what he learned at PowerShell Wednesday. This guy is really awesome.
Matt Zaske is an IT professional, conference speaker, and community member based in Minnesota. A regular presence at events like MMS, Matt is also an avid Home Assistant enthusiast who bridges the gap between PowerShell and IoT hardware. He ran a lightning demo at the 2026 Summit, taught attendees how to solder, and blogs regularly at mzonline.com. You can also find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky. 3D printing legend. GET ON HIS LEVEL.
Meet our host
Andrew Pla
Andrew Pla, a seasoned IT professional with over 10 years of experience, has spent the last 5 years mastering PowerShell. An ardent member of the PowerShell community and a Microsoft MVP, he loves sharing his knowledge and leveraging automation to solve complex problems. You can always find him connecting with others on the PDQ Discord and troubleshooting, with the firm belief that a problem shared is a problem halved.
