in reply to Is it still worth learning Perl as a first language?

There is nothing wrong as such with learning Perl as a fist language, even though there wouldn't be any compelling reason to choose it over - say - Python or Ruby either.

But I believe there is no niche for Perl-programmers that you could fill.

There are of course still Perl-jobs to be found, but mostly for people with lots of experience.

Without any commercial experience, just claiming to be an expert on Perl your cv goes straight to the bin - even if your really are an expert.

You may of course be lucky, so I guess it depends on your set of mind.

If you want to enter a lottery, go for it.

If you want a career in it that you can plan forget about Perl as an investment, that's sad but it's how I see it.

  • Comment on Re: Is it still worth learning Perl as a first language?

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Re^2: Is it still worth learning Perl as a first language?
by Anonymous Monk on May 04, 2018 at 10:25 UTC
    What does it mean to be an expert in perl/anything, but not have job experience? How do you get job without experience? The idea of learn one thing get job in it is very appealing to me but fantasy. You always gotta learn more and prove it.
[reply]
      What does it mean to be an expert in perl/anything, but not have job experience?
      "Job experience" is not the same as "experience". Many would see the phrase "job experience" and understand that pay was exchanged for services.

      However, one may gain experience outside of the corporate world, especially in OSS. I suspect significant contributions to CPAN and the Core were made by folks who don't get paid for Perl. But many of those would be experts.

      I didn't get paid for Perl for 15 years after I started mucking about with it on my own. Even then, no one cared that it was Perl. And I don't think I'm an expert at any of it, but I'm able to identify the parts of the engine, diagnose a few things, and subsequently know when to call in a domain expert.

      If someone puts down "X years contributing to Perl" or "X years skulking at Perl Monks", or even "X years teaching colleagues and going to conferences", and has some evidence to back it up, that's experience.

      -QM
      --
      Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of

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