Something that I haven't seen mentioned in the posts above is probably unspoken, but noted somewhere in the backs of our minds. I have looked upon many "job sites/help wanted" adds while trying to find work (luckily I am not in that situation at the present moment! ;-) and have found that for coding/sysadmin/etc. types of jobs, they all mention Perl. Whether or not Perl is a well thought of language by the coding population in general (although definetly well thought of here!!) may be irrelavent. Perl is definitely a ticket punch to most employers. It may not detract you from getting a job, but it sure as heck isn't going to hurt you knowing it. Those who do not look on it favorably probably are too set in their ways to realize that by knowing Perl, you make yourself worth more in the market place. Those who do not realize this are only cheating themselves.