It's been quite awhile but the cover letter paraphrased-
I have X experience with Y but that doesn't really tell you what I'm capable of or what my work is like. Let's walk through developing a simple module for Y...
- Terse problem space discussion.
- List of concerns like system/coupling v unit testing.
- Simple/direct way to get it into Y with terse code snippet.
- Distribution/RCS concerns, pros of using standard CPAN style dists even at work.
- Link to newly uploaded CPAN package!
- Thank you for this opportunity!
And since I sent the letter just a few hours after the job posting, it was, I hoped, obvious I could 1) perform quickly, 2) communicate, 3) write functional, testable code to community standards.
It was fun. At the time I was actually really nervous and thinking it was a mistake; arrogant, a bundle of work for free on spec, too outside the box... I feel like I'm a very middle of the road hacker so it's hard for me to promote myself. Not that I don't do a good job, I definitely endeavor to. The thing about Perl is, the better I know it the more I feel like it's just so damn deep I can't make definitive statements like: I'm a Perl guru. So, I don't and I end up sounding like a clinker if I'm not careful. I try to talk code and how fun/productive Perl is instead of "me."
Job hunting is, I've mentioned here before, a lot like dating. A positive attitude, confidence, love of Perl are very attractive to Perl employers.
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Many thanks for this. I must say I like your attitude in general. In the days when I was the hiring manager or on the search team I had a very hard time with people who wanted to charactize themselves as experts in 'C' or UNIX with 2 or 3 years experience. While it is possible that they might be, I have almost 30 and I know I am NOT what I consider to be an expert ... my name isn't Dennis Ritchie.
Perlwise I like to think I am on the road to becoming a middle of the road hacker but realize that perl is so rich that I will probably never master all of it I would like to.
Job hunting is indeed a lot like dating, I like the anaology. Thanks again for sharing this!
self professed programmer with delusions of relevance
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