Re: Perl Programmer or not?

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bikeNomad makes a good point about the cow-orkers' possible point of view, and about the type of programmers who haven't cracked a book since they graduated. I think there's a whole lot in between. I think the dividing line you're looking for is more of a vast field of grey, and I'm somewhere in the middle of it.

Sure, I enjoy programming, and I'm glad I can make a living doing this. I read and websurf and follow mailing lists to keep my knowledge up to date, for this job and for the day when I have to find another job. I try to contribute here because I believe it's the Right Thing to do, in return for what I've gotten from the "community" over the years.

But this is not my life. Not my job, perl, programming, open-source, or any of it. I take my work very seriously (that is what they're paying me for, isn't it?). If there's a talk that sounds interesting to me or is relevant to my work, I'll attend and enjoy it, but a perlmongers meeting is not among my favorite hangouts. If I'm going to spend a week's time and the cost of a conference out of my own pocket, I'll be out on a sailboat or a motorcycle somewhere, hopefully without a computer in sight.

Among some of my motorcycling friends, the fact that I work with a computer all day instead of fiddling with engines makes me not a "biker", just someone who rides motorcycles. By your reasoning, my (lack of) enthusiasm for perl makes me not a "perl programmer", but just a "programmer who does perl"?

In either case, I don't know where the line is, and I don't really care. Why the need to separate the "real" and the "wannabe" anyway? Why be discouraged because the world doesn't share your zeal for perl (or motorcycles, or left-handed screwdrivers, or whatever)? You enjoy it as more than just a tool for your job, so enjoy it (and leave the others to enjoy whatever it is that gets them all fired up).