I don't know how I would have survived without perl at the last place I worked - When I first started, I was the only guy in the systems department of a small ISP, so got very proficient at creating quick scripts and pages to automate what I could. It was the only way I could get other things done. I hadn't learned perl when I started, but shell scripts were only getting me so far. I got my hands on the company copy of the camel book, and never looked back :)