I currently work helpdesk and have been for about 6 years. I am looking to become more valuable, and I can't decide what route to take? Python is of interest, and so is PowerShell. What are some recommendations? Maybe something that would benefit a helpdesk position or even get into a network administrator.
Definitely PowerShell. While you can do network related stuff with python, powershell gives you an in-depth understanding of various parts of the internet. This is because you manually execute each and every step, while in high end languages, you just use 1 or 2 commands. While powershell might take a bit more time, it will be really useful to understand networking and will give you a considerably high boost in terms of your career too.
I think that if you plan on sticking around enterprise systems and Microsoft, you should definitely get into some PowerShell. Basically anything you do via Active Directory, you should try mirroring it in PowerShell. It’s an easy one to learn, and it’s easy to follow that into Azure CLI. I was in the same boat as you — Did Helpdesk/System Administration for 10 years. PowerShell got me out.