Make sure you understand references and how to use them to set up complex data structures, including references to functions, named or anonymous. Familiarize yourself with doing OO in Perl - at least how to use objects, if not how to write them yourself. After those lessons, the power of CPAN is at your disposal.

"Web services" is cool as a buzzword and all, but it won't do you any good to know about them if you can't write Perl to begin with. And for someone who can, getting up to speed on the topic is not much more than reading some general docs about it, installing a module (SOAP::Lite f. this ex.) and reading its POD.

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Makeshifts last the longest.