A little background on me first. I have little to no formal software training (ie college courses). I first began programming when HTML & Word macros got boring at my first web development job. :-) I have read many books, mostly perl but lately more on general concepts & design patterns. I think I'm a pretty darn good programmer, but there are others much better than me.

That said, I am a perl junkie. I love perl. But at my last job my boss wanted me to learn Java, so I started reading. It was a good experience. While Java is too controlling for me, I really like the thought processes it forces you to have. You have to think OO, and design & develop accordingly. It forces you to design before you implement.

Those processes have helped me be a better perl programmer. I can take the concepts that Java enforces, and turn them into Perl, where it is optional. I can definitely say that learning Java has helped me be a better programmer. It is easier for me to see the big picture, which makes the project that much better.

Java (among other things) has helped me grow from just another hacker, into something vaguely resembling a software engineer by forcing me to learn programming concepts. These concepts are what distinguishes wanna-be's from true programmes. Every language has it's place. And every language you learn helps you to be a better programmer.

Kudos to you mr. nick for finding such a cherry position!

PS. It's rather ironic that Java Junkies is run on a perl-based engine. ;-)