the "no good Perl jobs"/"no good Perl programmers" myth

[Peter Corlett]

On 7 Aug 2006, at 17:49, Adrian Howard wrote:
[...]
> I think the point Peter was making was that it's easy to test the  
> Java skills of a Java programmer. Less easy to test the Perl skills  
> of a Java programmer you want to turn into a Perl programmer :)

Just turn this into a question as to whether a programmer in  
$OTHER_LANGUAGE is any good at $PET_LANGUAGE. I've always thought  
that the Perl questions at interview were great to weed out somebody  
who had just fabricated a CV, but not much use at determining general  
skill levels much above that.

The most challenging question at the interview for my current Perl-on- 
Linux programming gig was some set manipulation, and inexplicably,  
some Windows sysadmin questions (to which I answered "I'd find  
somebody who knew what they were doing and ask them".)

So you really want to know what their research skills are like, and  
whether they are flexible and open-minded enough to switch languages,  
or just a seat-warming wage slave that churns out grey Java day-in,  
day-out.