I feel much the same way as you do, as someone also
approching level 7.
I can write a perl program to do what I want it to do.
But.... I still feel much like a newbie to programming in
general, despite having been doing it for years now in some
form or another.
And I feel this way despite seeming to have a fair
knowledge of
perl syntax, methodologies and intracacies, an idea of modules
availible and some experience with a decentish selection
of them and knowledge of how to get to most of the information
I might need to do most of anything in perl.
However having never made anything other then tools, toys
and projects for my own interest, desires or training, I
feel I have not actually progressed to a truly 'useful'
stage as a programmer.
So I spend some time on perlmonks answering people's
questions. This I feel has been useful to me as searching
through the docs for some obscure useage or module has
expanded my perl knowledge. I don't always get the answer
right. I don't always answer with the right detail, as
furthur followups by other monks leave my feeble suggestions
behind. But I still do help other people in their projects
at times. But my own projects still feel like those
of a newbie, with no true grasp of programming or perl. | 
