Sorry, I couldn't resist throwing in my 2 cents on this.
My first cent: As far as advertising is concerned, lets not take our model
from Micro$oft. Instead, take a look at IBM. I'm sure everyone has seen
their "Peace, Love, Linux" ad campaign. Most people, even most management
look at these ads and read "Peace, Love, Penguin?!" The ad campaign is
aimed at us, not them. Smart managment doesn't make tech decisions, but
rely upon their employees to make good suggestions. Perl advocacy needs to
focus on programmers, not management. The other side of this is that the
most common reason management rejects Perl as a possible solution is that
Perl programmers are harder to come by than ASP or VB programmers. (I do
think we are better, but thats another argument). Convert those around you.
Good programmers will see the power of Perl, regardless of their background.
When I came to my current job, we had only a bit of Perl code and one Linux
server. We now have 5 Linux boxes and I've ported much ASP code to Perl.
I've converted at least one programmer and instilled (doubt|hope) in many
others. Now when I ask my boss if I can port something to Linux and Perl,
he knows that he has people on staff who are excited by the chance to leave
their windoze crutches behind and do something cool. (BTW: We are currently
looking to hire a Perl programmer with cross-platform experience. If you
have such experience and are looking for a job in the Chicago area...)
My other cent: There is perl certification. Not official certification, but
many job sites offer to rate your Perl expertise with a little quiz of
sorts. Yeah, they're certainly not fool proof, but they should hit the
basics like why to 'use strict', references, and object oriented perl. They
help weed out people who have no clue. As an employer, thats all you really
need. Once you know the canidate knows enough to modify someone elses code,
then its probably time for an interview. Thats when you drill them. Also
don't forget that most employers look more at how quickly a canidate can
pick up something new and adapt than what skill set the currently have. Any
sort of certification is just going to tell the employer that the canidate
is in the ball park. No one ever comes to a job with all the skills the job
requires.
- Johnathan
