When I learnt Perl it was for my own entertainment and I had no academic background and no one to advise me on suitable training material, however I found a very popular script archive on the internet...several years later I think I've cured most of the errors I leant there ;)

If you know C and have some level of familiarity with the Unix shell, Perl will take a relatively brief time to get up to speed for automation and reporting (the precise length of time is a function of your effort and ability).

Production level public facing code will take a bit longer and will require an understanding of multiple areas, not just of programming but of the underlying technologies also.

The trip is quite a long one however the voyage is fun.