I'm glad to hear that bioinformatics is hot on the market, seeing how that field is one of my primary interests. Bioinformatics is also the field I have the least experience in. If I were interested in pursuing Perl in this direction, what recommendations could you give me? Are employers looking for people with strong Perl backgrounds or stronger science backgrounds? Is it possible to get a job doing bioinformatics with a solid understanding of Perl, but only a basic science background?

I can see your point of view that open source isn't always what companies are looking for, but what other ways do I have to get "practical" experience. There is a sick cycle of you need the job to get experience, but you need the experience to get the job. Many struggle with getting into that circle in order to get that initial experience. Companies tend to want programmers with 5+ years experience in a specific field. How am I suppose to get that experience if a company is reluctant to hire me?