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I've been having a similar feeling (Score:2)
Hi scrottie!
I've been having a similar feeling about most Perl workplaces too, but didn't have the chance to put it into words yet. Naturally, this is a generalisation, and I believe there are some Perl shops out there that give their Perl hackers a wonderful treatment and conditions. It's very possible that many Perl programmers are simply intelligent enough to have found jobs using other technologies, where they are treated better.
Google is indeed a good example. They hire Perl programmers and Python programmers to write Java code because they know they will be better than native Java programmers. I don't hold it against Google for choosing to standardise on Python instead of Perl (you usually have to standardise on something, unless you are NASA), but it's illustrative of how non-Perl shops generally treat programmers better.
I've written "The End of Info-Tech Slavery" [shlomifish.org] (not Perl-specific) out of similar sentiments. I think it's a good read, but it's still very cynical. I have started working on a better essay [shlomifish.org], but had a lack of inspiration about it.
In any case, what should we do about it? "Those who can - do. Those who can't - complain." Perhaps we can write a feature about it, and refer prospective Perl shop managers there. What do you say?
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