Re: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less?

Ask the candidate to code a simple program. Check to see if the program works and if they use strict;

Avoid leading questions. Ask them to tell you about projects they've worked on, what problems they found most interesting and how they solved them. You may not be able to accurately determine their level of Perl prowess, but you'll get a good feeling for their skill level.

One other thing... Note how candidates list 'Perl' on their resume. Perl, not PERL perl or pearl.

hope this helps!

Comment on Re: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less?

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Re^2: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by softworkz (Monk) on Sep 13, 2005 at 20:04 UTC
++ to kirby, ask him\her for their Perl Monks username PERFECT~! =:-) Definately check for typos on the spelling of Perl, or ask them what Perl stands for, or what is a shebang line? or really simple things, like who is Larry Wall or Damian Conway. P.s. If he says their username is "Paco" ask where the heck he's been for the past few years =:-)	[reply]
Re^3: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by cog (Parson) on Sep 14, 2005 at 08:50 UTC
Er... it's a good idea, but not necessarily "perfect" There's a lot of great Perl hackers out there who've never been to the monastery before. And that's not a good reason not to hire/interview them.	[reply]
Re^3: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by CountZero (Bishop) on Sep 14, 2005 at 22:18 UTC
Nobody knows what "Perl" really stand for (so it is a trick question) and I never use a "shebang" line in my scripts as on Windows its use is very limited, so that would not necessarily weed out the good from the bad. Better to ask whether they use `c`-style `for`-loops or know what the Schwartzian Transform is. CountZero "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by cog (Parson) on Sep 14, 2005 at 08:51 UTC
Ask the candidate to code a simple program. On the telephone? :-)	[reply]
Re^3: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by socketdave (Curate) on Sep 14, 2005 at 12:21 UTC
Absolutely! The ideal candidate would also know how to use email and/or a remote shell ;)	[reply]
Re^2: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by ambrus (Abbot) on Dec 17, 2012 at 11:18 UTC
About "Perl" versus "PERL" or "perl" or "pearl", see PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community.	[reply]


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