I write Perl applications. I expect my Perl applications to be maintained by other people who write Perl applications. That assumes a certain level of competency.

Think of it this way - would you hire a C++ developer who didn't understand templates? function pointers? I didn't think so. So, why on this green earth would you hire a Perl developer who doesn't understand nested data structures?

If you're a manager and you do that, then you deserve the hell you have consigned yourself to.

vek - write your Perl applications and be proud of them. Don't pander to the posers who claim Perl expertise, yet cannot understand $x{$y}{$z->('foo')} = $bar->($baz);. You are a Perl developer. Stand tall!