Teaching Perl in Saudi Arabia
After what seems like an almost endless amount of paperwork, visa applications, immunisations, negotiations, contracts, travel agents, and administrivia, I'm about to fly to Saudi Arabia, to teach Perl to the world's biggest oil company.
Why are they learning Perl? Well, as best I can tell, they're using it for data munging of geological data. That's got a familiar ring to it, in fact I've been seeing a big growth of Perl in Geoscience recently.
On the way back I'm planning to spend a couple of days in Dubai, just because it sounds like such a bizarrely opulent part of the world. World's biggest hotel. World's biggest indoor ski slope. World's biggest shopping mall, and certainly the closest thing we have to Magrathea, with Dubai creating artificial islands in the shapes of palm trees and the world itself. I also hear the diving is pretty good.
Re:I wonder how did you get a job like that?
jarich on 2009-06-09T04:15:01
I'm sure Paul won't mind if I answer for him. In his case, he wanted a job teaching Perl and yet there was not only a lack of jobs he could apply for to do such, but a lack of local companies teaching Perl altogether. Thus Paul started up Perl Training Australia. Once I came on board and actually organised courses (he was too busy being a fire-fighting sys-admin for a wide range of clients) he got to achieve his goal of teaching Perl. We gave up most of the sys-admin some years ago and now do almost 100% training. We even get the occasional international course.
I guess this leaves you with two options. Start your own training business (useful if one doesn't exist) or become friends with your closest local one and see if they want to expand to include you. In either case it would help you immensely if you were a regular speaker at your local Perl Mongers group, at all of your local conferences, and at as many other related groups on your travels. This will make you a better speaker, and (importantly) help demonstrate, to those who might hire you, your awesome speaking skills. It's also very good advertising for the business you end up working for.
:) Re:I wonder how did you get a job like that?
zby on 2009-06-09T11:58:44
Just after posting that comment I noticed the stuff in the top right corner and I felt stupid. But yeah - thanks for the advice. We have started a local PM group just last year but it seems that there are not many companies using Perl here anymore. My last hope is that Modern Perl will gather some new popularity.Re:I wonder how did you get a job like that?
jarich on 2009-06-09T12:40:48
Modern Perl might help, but so far as I'm aware, the thing that makes the biggest difference is perceived support for Perl. So the use of Perl in Australia appears to be growing. I imagine some of this is that we've proved to be sticking around, and that's great.
Regarding user groups, it seems much harder to get people to turn up on a regular basis than it used to be. I suspect the boom in online forums and the like has had an effect here, and that people don't know or have forgotten about how valuable it can be to talk to their peers. Nevertheless, if you persevere and advertise your meetings widely (to the local Linux UGs, other programming UGs etc) you will hopefully see growth and eventually get a great crowd. It helps to make your group generally known and to keep a look out for luminaries who might be passing by so you can ask if they'll give a special presentation for you. Many speakers would be happy to drop in when they're in town, and some would even detour across the country if you can round up some sponsorship to cover a meal and accommodation (or can offer a spare room).
