Recruiting a Perl developer is like finding a needle in a haystack. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to recruit a developer, rather than a Perl developer and let them learn Perl on the job? At Geekuni, I’ve been working with several companies taking on this challenge and in this talk I’ll share opportunities and pitfalls I’ve observed, and techniques that make the workplace a fertile ground for growing Perl developers. https://youtu.be/Sy-qb5nXKyc?t=5h44m57s

1. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Let them learn Perl
… on the job?

2. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
about me
Andrew Solomon
Academia
Software development

3. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
about me
Andrew Solomon
Academia
Online Perl Training
Software development

4. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Structure of the talk
● Why?
● How does it work?
● Risk avoidance

5. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Question“Is it really that hard finding Perl developers?”
- Andrew asks a recruiter

6. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Python recruitment: “hard” separating wheat from the chaff
https://img-aws.ehowcdn.com/750x428p/photos.demandstudios.com/getty/article/139/154/467329955.jpg

7. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Perl recruitment: finding a needle in a haystack
https://media2.s-
nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/141114/tdy_tren_needle_141114.today-vid-canonical-
featured-desktop.jpg

8. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Why?
It’s (almost) never taught
in academia, because...

9. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Why?
It’s not hip, because...

10. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/31/perl_most_hated_language/

11. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Why?
● Larry Wall’s a linguist
● Dot-com
● Yahoo 💔 Perl
● Google 💖 Python
because...

12. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
History of
Perl
Part 1

13. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
History of
Perl
Part 1

14. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
See how it’s done successfully
● Why?
● How does it work?
● Risk avoidance

15. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
The research(Stuff I asked clients…)

16. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
How do you find them?
● How would you describe a good fit for the job?
● What do you put in a job ad to entice them?
● Where do you find them? Overseas? Universities? High
School? Kindergarten? (just kidding)

17. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
How do you onboard them?
● How do they learn Perl on the job?
● Is there any assessment of progress in developing Perl
skills?
● How long does it take to get people up to speed?
● Team / departmental / managerial structure to
enable it?

18. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018

19. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Three challenges
● Catchment area
● Recruitment
● Onboarding

20. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Catchment area
http://www.extremescience.com/amazon-river.htm

21. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Catchment area
Developers with
background in any
language: C++, Ruby,
Java,...

22. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Catchment area
Challenge
“Why would I want to
learn an obscure
language like Perl?”

23. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Catchment area
Grads from any
background:
● Mathematics
● Physics
● Bioinformatics
● ...

24. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Catchment area
Challenge
“What’s a reference?
What do you mean by
‘lexical scoping’?”

25. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Recruitment

26. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
What am I looking for?
“Look for humble but
driven people who like
asking questions and
working in a team”

27. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for developers?

28. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for developers?
Change your mindset
Programming is the job
The language is just a
tool

29. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for developers?
Sell the job in the ad, not
the language:
● Nice bunch of people
● Interesting problems
● $ £ € ¥...

30. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for developers?
How do you find them?
● Referrals
● Meetups
● Hackathons

31. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for grads?

32. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for grads?
How do you sell it? Not
so hard:
● Offer money
● Interesting job

33. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for grads?
How do you find them?
● Uni careers fair
● Job ads

34. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does recruitment work
for grads?
How to FILTER them?
● Aptitude tests
● Personality tests??

35. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Onboarding

36. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does onboarding work?
Full. Time. Training.
For programming. For
Perl. For the business.
Don’t let tasks
compete with
training. Separate
them!

37. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does onboarding work?
Start in 2nd line
support to learn
about the business
and Perl together

38. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does onboarding work?
Start in 2nd line
support to learn
about the business
and Perl together
(WARNING: 2nd line
might not let go!)

39. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
How does onboarding work?
Quote from Xome:
● Crawl in 1 month
● Walk in 3 months
● Run in 9 months

40. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
● Why?
● How does it work?
● Risk avoidance

41. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
They don’t know programming.
Risk: They feel incompetent

42. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
They don’t know programming.
Risk: Morale - they feel
incompetent
Solution
● Provide training
● Find attainable tasks
● (Evidence based) positive
feedback

43. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
They only learn your Perl style
Risk: your tech debt becomes
their toolkit

44. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
They only learn your Perl style
Risk: your tech debt becomes
their toolkit
Solution
● Training
● Code reviews
● Mentoring

45. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
Risk: Tasks win over learning

46. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
Risk: Tasks win over learning
Solution
● Learning time allocated
● Trainee assessment
● Management metrics

47. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
Risk: TMTOWTDI anxiety

48. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
Grow your own Perl
developers
Risk avoidance
Risk: TMTOWTDI anxiety
Solution
● Gentle code reviews
● Seminars

49. andrew@geekuni.com TPC 2018
The research...is ongoing
drop me a line
if you want add to this / stay in the loop!