Re: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less?

If I had to do this sort of interview over the phone, I'd probably cover things like:

Do you remember which version of perl was the first one you ever used? What version are you using now? (This could cover OS experience, which may be relevant.)
Have you used non-core Perl modules from CPAN? (Briefly discuss a couple favorites, if any, and if there's time.)
Have you developed modules for your own use? (Might be hard to discuss these in detail.)
Do you use other languages besides Perl? (If so, discuss thoughts, preferences, annoyances, etc, about the respective languages, to the extent there's time.)
Do you use the perl debugger? What do you think of it?
How often do you use perldoc?

These should give you some sense of the person's familiarity and comfort level with Perl. If they never used "perl -d", that's not a killer, but knowing how to use the debugger means a good deal. If they don't know what perldoc is, they don't know enough.

Apart from that, I'd probably stick to things that are more likely to be specific to the position being filled -- e.g. database experience, web experience, etc, if these are relevant.

Comment on Re: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less?

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Re^2: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by merlyn (Sage) on Sep 13, 2005 at 20:38 UTC
Do you remember which version of perl was the first one you ever used? Version 1.0, released 12/18/1987. I think I unpacked it a few weeks later from the multiple Usenet parts, and built it. What version are you using now? When maintperl is being updated (as it has begun again recently), I daily run my "get.snap" script which does: `/usr/bin/rsync -av --delete rsync://ftp.linux.activestate.com/perl-5.8 +.x/ /opt/perl/snap/MIRROR/` [download] And then when I detect useful changes, I run /opt/perl/snap/src-sync-config: `#!/bin/sh cd /opt/perl/snap \|\| exit 1 rsync -av --delete MIRROR/ src/ ## darnit I want one-level namespaces echo ... PATCHING src/hints/darwin.sh ... perl -pi-DIST -e 's/\[2-6/\[2-9/' src/hints/darwin.sh cd src \|\| exit 1 PATH=/usr/bin:/bin ./Configure -des -Duseshrplib -Dusedevel \ -Uversiononly -Dprefix=/opt/perl/snap \ -Dlocincpth=/sw/include -Dloclibpth=/sw/lib \ -Dperladmin=merlyn@stonehenge.com` [download] followed by "make all test install" in the src directory. The last few days, "make test" fails on OSX, so I have to horse around doing the install manually. Then I run "cpan-r", described in a recent magazine article of mine, to run the CPAN shell using Expect, executing the "r" command and automatically updating all out-of-date modules. Do I get the job? {grin} -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by graff (Chancellor) on Sep 14, 2005 at 03:06 UTC
Do I get the job? If you could explain all that over the phone, I'm sure they'd give you serious consideration. :)	[reply]
Re^3: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by tinita (Parson) on Sep 14, 2005 at 15:13 UTC
Do I get the job? {grin} have you ever heard of the term "overqualified"? =)	[reply]
Re^3: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by Paulster2 (Priest) on Sep 14, 2005 at 20:57 UTC
Hey, merlyn, you might get the job, but I don't know if it would meet your salary requirements ;-) Paulster2 .oO( If only I could think of something perlish to write.... )	[reply]
Re^2: Have you netted a Perl Monk or Perl Pretender in 5 minutes or less? by ambrus (Abbot) on Sep 15, 2005 at 08:17 UTC
Do you remember which version of perl was the first one you ever used? What version are you using now? (This could cover OS experience, which may be relevant.) I like this question, although I don't really see why it would be useful in an interview. Mine, for example, is 5.00503 (becuse that's what came with SuSE 6.3), but I keep forgetting the 0.03e-3 part, so I had to look up it in the archive of my previous linux installation.	[reply]