Employers generally expect the applicant to submit code that has previously been reviewed, much like they expect the application to have been proofread. Employers are interested in getting a Good Value from the programmers they hire and if those programmers can increase their value by asking questions on PerlMonks.org, then more power to them---it's free training and mentoring. As for the issue of whether this is a real reflection of the programmer's ability, this is precisely the reason employers do technical interviews in which they ask their applicants to spontaneously write code.