my way-to-perl
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
My way to becoming a Perl programmer
Sysadmin in a small company
+ Interesting at first (before everything was set up)
- Just boring after that
- No progress
- No perspectives
- Started to hate other people
+ Had a time to learn something new
I already knew some Perl and liked something about it...
● magic (JAPHs are usually unreadable puzzles, but they are working Perl programs!)
● eliteness (kind of)● power of expression
– do in 1 line what you would do in 5 lines in other languages
● ease of use (when you know it)
Searched for Perl on the Internet
● found videos of YAPC::Russia 2008● spent a lot of time watching them
– it was so exciting!
– I never realized people would do something similar!
– smart people!
● realized that the next YAPC::Russia will be in about week or two and registered– and it was free to visit!
YAPC::Russia 2009
● Came to it● Heard a lot of interesting talks● Met many wonderful and smart people
– still was too shy to talk with most of them :)● but found someone who hired anyway =)
● Played the “imagine the future” game● Was very excited● Wrote a small blogpost about it (never wrote blogposts
before)
Small freelance jobs
● Learned bits of DBI, CGI, Sympa, TT, LWP, CGI::Application, etc.
● Prepared for something bigger– read the books
– tried to do small testing tasks
● But still needed a kick in the ass to leave my job
Traces of financial crisis of 2008
● Many people in Russia were fired● 2 sysadmins is too many for the small company
● especially when everything works like a charm =)
● And the other sysadmin was the boss'es nephew =)
Choosing the job
● Delphi or C# or Java programmer?● Sysadmin in another company?
or probably...
● Perl developer?!?!?– it's so exciting!
● and well paid =)
Choosing the job
● Delphi or C# or Java programmer?● Sysadmin in another company?
or probably...
● Perl developer– give one, please!
– remotely
Working remotely
● Couldn't / didn't want to relocate– Even to Amsterdam (and booking.com was
probably also small at that time)
– or to Moscow
– or somewhere else (Odessa? :)● and no one invited me at that time =)
Promoting Perl is good!
● Organize more wonderful conferences and workshops!
● Sponsor newbies!● Create more Perl jobs!!!
– hire newbies (also remotely)
– teach them to program Perl
– guide and appreciate them
