I have heard so much of this problem.. You know what, The solution is training!
as recently read from a sourceforge perl job ad:Our team implements software in Perl. Perl is selected as a least common denominator -- we write clean and elegant Perl which everyone on the team can understand. It's easy to train new staff up to our code standards. We leverage CPAN modules to accelerate every major project. Perl is ideal for implementing systems administration,integration, and automation code."
and someone confirmed this solution in a reply to Ovid's Perl 5 Is Dying post too. Note the key thing is to find someone smart and get things done.
Now stop complaining! go make that happen!
Exactly! My first employer hired me as a coop student and made me a Perl programmer. In fact, I became more of a Perl programmer than anyone who was there before me.
Look for intelligence and aptitude, and then train people in the proper ways of the force.
(My current employer made me a Java programmer. Incidentally, regardless of language, I recommend you look for someone who can learn a language from a book and who will Google and ask for the "right" way to do things.)
All of the good programmers I've worked with can easily work with most languages. Not only do they pick up the syntax, but they read the right stuff or whatever they do to know the wisdom of using it.
The bad programmers only learn enough to solve their problem, rather than learning to be able to solve future problems they don't have yet.
However, employees are in a bit of a bind here because, at least in the US, employers don't have strong commitments to training and retaining employees. There is a lot of churn in the industry, so employers don't invest in people they don't think they'll employ after three years.
