in reply to Can Perl be more than a hobby language?

Don't know it this helps, but for the last ten years I've worked as a freelance developer and have largely specialised in Perl. In that time I've consistantly earned well over the UK national average income and the only times that I've had trouble finding work is when the whole IT consultancy market was shrinking. I'm sure that others here have similar stories.

So, yes, it can be more than a hobby language. In fact I consider myself lucky that my hobby is also my job.

--
<http://dave.org.uk>

"The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club."
-- Chip Salzenberg

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Re^2: Can Perl be more than a hobby language?
by ant (Scribe) on Nov 15, 2006 at 16:37 UTC
    I have been a employed Perl Programmer in the UK for the last 6 years and have earned a good wage from it. I have worked for three companies in the south west that needed Perl skills. I also have a lot of PL/SQL experience as well, but It's always my Perl experience that comes through at the Job interview.

    I think all good programmers can progran in a variety of languages, so choosing a couple of languages is essential, afterall you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. It's more important to learn to design and code correctly and then choose the appropriate language than it is to blindly stick to one language.

    The one downside of Perl is that a lot of employers want Perl skills but not as the Primary skill set, so in the south west at least it can take a little while to find a new job, however after coming back from traveling abroad for a year, it took me less than a month to get a Perl job, that lasted more than two years, before I decided to move on.

    Hope that helps.
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