I think one of the reasons Perl has such a vibrant culture is that the basics are very easy to pickup (Hello World in Perl is about as simple as it gets, and you can do it on the command line!), but to master Perl takes a decade or more. I've been programming in Perl for about 4 years professionally, and about 4-5 years less professionally before that. But I doubt that I'm even half way to mastery.

Learning Perl is almost like learning a martial art. It's a mix of art and science. And you also need good mentors. Being (by far) the most senior Perl developer in my company, reading and posting on PerlMonks gives me the guidance I lack in Real Life.

Now I just need a RestOfMyLifeMonks :)