I'm wondering if some people here struggle professionally with being, more than anything else, a perl programmer?

Well, in my long sojourn with Perl I can truthfully say that Perl has been more of being another tool my by in my box of tools to do my "real profession®" being a Unix Professional.

I did have one gig where I was a full time Perl programmer, but for the most part Perl has been a tool or means to an end. One that I use quite often granted, but still just a tool.