I have received a fair amount of affirmatives. So here goes....
Let me first begin by stating that my observations are anecdotal. They are
however based on direct conversations with hiring managers / senior developers
at my clients/prospects. I have also interviewed well over 400 perl/oo
perl/mod_perl developers in the last 4 years. I have an extremely detailed code
vetting process that allows an accurate skill level rating.
I am sure there will be plenty of situational disparity between what I write
and what you may have personally experienced.
The “job” market…
Most large scale shops (more than a few perl/oo perl/mod_perl developers) have
code bases that where developed in the late 90’s (hence a resistance to moved
towards more robust but yet unproven versions). These companies have survived
the dot com blowup and grown in their respective market places, usually
internet/web commerce centric. Most new startups/companies (there are
exceptions) are not perl/oo perl/mod_perl shops.
The jobs are literally spread across the country. In each geographical area,
shops know most of the “local” perl/oo perl/mod_perl developers/coders. They
have already worked with these coders or interviewed them at some point in
time. In some cases they have current employees that have worked with and know
of them. For whatever reasons they are deemed not technically or chemistry
qualified. When they do talk to Java/J2ee / MS .net developers (who accept
perl only as a procedural language used for the most part by Linux sysads) it
is very rare there will be any ship jumping. It’s like the McCoys and the
Hatfields. In other words the talent pool doesn’t expand.
The Southern Ca market has the highest geographical concentration of large
scale perl/oo perl/mod_perl shops (although relatively quite at the moment in
terms of hiring). It is arguably the center of the universe as it relates to
media/content/advertising and the merging of these with web portals. Southern
Ca is also a relocation destination. This lends itself to more “local” talent
and therefore more perl/oo perl/mod_perl start ups. The hidden message here is
“the more available senior developers, the more likely available jobs”, an
expanding talent pool will lead to an expanding job market.
In my humble opinion the perl community needs to embrace the concept of self
propagation. For the most part perl/oo perl/mod_perl developers are self
taught. Junior or mid level talent (a majority of the talent pool) is passed
over as not enough experience. Perhaps this is because they do not push
themselves or the roles they come from are User Interface or system ops, people
that did not make it in those roles. This where as an investment of time and
effort can go a long way into building the pool of perl/oo perl/mod_perl
developers. Too often everyone is looking for the instant gratification of a
senior level skill set.
Believe it or not, there is a perception that senior perl/oo perl/mod_perl
developers do not play well with others. An active mentoring role played by
senior developers and gurus needs to be taken. Reach out and take a junior
person under your wing and actively work to raise their level of coding skill
set. Perl/oo perl/mod_perl’s community and your future may depend on it.
--- On Mon, 3/23/09, Mike Bourdon <perl_fin...@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Mike Bourdon <perl_fin...@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: decline and fall of modperl?
To: "Louis-David Mitterrand" <vindex+lists-modp...@apartia.org>
Cc: modperl@perl.apache.org
Date: Monday, March 23, 2009, 7:26 PM
Very interesting topic, byline and responses.
For the last 5 years I have been Perl recruiter (24 years overall as a
technical headhunter) based out of Southern Ca.
Many on this list have talked/worked with me, most however would not recognize
this screen name.
I would be more than happy to share my insights as it relates to the "job" /
"candidate" market conditions.
If there are enough affirmative replies I will in the near future post a more
detailed dissertation.
If not, I will continue to lurk in the shadows.
Long live PERL
--- On Mon, 3/23/09, Louis-David Mitterrand <vindex+lists-modp...@apartia.org>
wrote:
From: Louis-David Mitterrand <vindex+lists-modp...@apartia.org>
Subject: decline and fall of modperl?
To: modperl@perl.apache.org
Date: Monday, March 23, 2009, 6:07 AM
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
Hi and sorry for the provocative title of my post :)
One of our customers is doing a detailed review of a mason/modperl ERP
app we've built for them since 2001. Prodded by some buzzword-compliant
consultants they are expressing concerns that the app's underlying
technologies - perl, modperl and mason - are becoming obsolete. They
feel that a web application framework must have 'rails' or some other
buzzword in its name.
But their main argument is that perl is declining as a web developement
language. Also they rightly feel that competent perl developers are
becoming harder to find.
What arguements could I use to address these concerns and convince them
that their initial investement in perl is still safe and won't be
obsolete in 10 years?
The client's local developers (who maintain the app we've built) feel
that mason gives too much freedom to write messy code and badly
structure a web app.
Indeed mason has very little constraints, maybe just slightly more than
straight modperl. So it requires experienced, self-disciplined devs,
which are few and far between.
So my second question is, what perl web development framework should we
recommend to our client? Catalyst looks like a winner, but maybe there
are others?
Thanks for your insights,
