good OO programmers who program in Java are generally more interested in remaining Java programmers than they are in becoming Perl programmers

Sure, but not everyone is so loyal to a language. I know I'm not loyal to Perl and have taken jobs that didn't involve it. Opening your doors wider is bound to improve your odds.

The second problem is, of course, how to identify them.

All the standard interviewing advice applies. Getting candidates to talk about how they solve problems is usually the gist of it. You try to find people who are interested in programming, rather than just looking for a paycheck.

How would you propose organizing a Perl team to take advantage of Perl's strengths, yet have room for the mentoring that a smart junior programmer needs?

The usual things seems to work: code reviews, scanning the checkin e-mails from Subversion, holding regular meetings, letting people choose what they want to work on, paying for books and conferences, encouraging participation in open source projects, etc.

In reply to Re^3: Where are future senior programmers coming from? by perrin
in thread Where are future senior programmers coming from? by tilly

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