Wwhite
Should you write your entire codebase in Perl, in 2018? hell no
But you probably shouldn't be writing anything more than 10-20 lines in Bash, either, and this class of organically evolving script, with little attention to design at the start (much like the language itself) is where Perl really shines.
As a sysadmin who started out replacing power supplies as a datacenter tech, and nowadays wrangles AWS auto-scaling groups, the idea of _not_ automating away the tedious parts of my job is pretty hilarious. I had one operations/support job where this was the case, and thankfully, I quit after one month.
If anyone out there has the gumption to cobble together a dev environment and automate away their BS job, yet can't get recognition from your employer; it is time to seek out a new job, you've certainly got the skills for something better!
"A less-talked about part of the bootcamper’s journey is what happens after you graduate — when you’re searching for that six-figure developer position."
"As I got more experience, I effectively “leveled up.” I became capable of completing interviews at companies with higher hiring bars. This is illustrated below as a linear correlation between the number of weeks I was into the process and the base salary I was offered."
At the same time, if I imagine the author as a (highly organized) co-worker, seeking a better salary, I have a bit more respect for the legwork he has put in (although it is highly unlikely anyone with a full time gig would have the time for it).
It remains unclear whether salary was the author's only reason to become a developer; there is only the absence of counterevidence. I would definitely feel uncomfortable hiring or working with a junior employee who attempts to "mask (their) inexperience", even during the hiring process.