There's a long and somewhat uninteresting story around this request, but the bottom line is that my project needs someone short term to build a Linux server and bring a bunch of Perl scripts online. The scripts themselves are a mess- not well developed or maintained, and we don't have any in-house professional experience with Linux except for a few guys who have done some band-aiding here and there to the scripts in question. All of their experience has been maintaining scripts on an existing Linux box, not bringing them up from scratch (though they have a TON of business knowledge regarding what the scripts actually do).

We were implored during our stand up today to call on any resources we can find to help with this, so I figured someone here might have the skills/time/inclination to take on a short term contract to get us up and running and then provide follow up support as necessary (which should be minimal since we have a guy who was maintaining these scripts before in a different environment). If anyone has interest, please contact me. I have no idea what the particulars are regarding compensation etc., but I know this is a critical thing and the powers that be need it done fast and by someone they can trust. I am sure they understand how this translates into reasonable compensation.

Note: I am being as up front as possible about the code quality being abysmal. A large part of my job the last few years has been re-writing the scripts into windows services that actually have unit tests and put through rigid QA. What we are dealing with now are scripts that haven't gotten ported.

Can the person work remotely?

My assumption is yes- I asked that question and the response was basically "whatever we have to do to get this going ASAP.", though obviously they would prefer someone who could come on site. I anticipate that if anyone from here were to work on this, it would all be done remotely.

MMm.. good opportunity for someone to take a career leap into contracting.

(don't look at me.. busy)

Ditto, and the guy I was going to recommend declined on the basis that he no longer wants anything to do with perl.

Wasn't Bitt recently out-of-work? From his posts here, I think he probably has the chops you're looking for.

I'm unemployed. I can do it. PM sent.

From the one time I met Bitt in person and his posts here, seems like it would be a walk in the park for him. He's got many years of Unix/Linux server management experience and knows best practices (and he's just a reasonable drive up I-85 from you).

Awesome- I knew you guys wouldn't fail me. Just the prospect of Bitt coming to work on this marks the first time I feel less than terrified at this situation. Asking a bunch of windows developers to build and maintain a single Linux box in a windows production environment is a recipe for disaster.

Stop talking or you'll scare him off!

:-)

I don't think so -- if the words "a bunch of Perl scripts [...] a mess- not well developed or maintained" haven't scared him off, I don't know what will.

Bah. Self-expression is a beautiful thing Learn to read code, noob...





I kid, I kid...

Yeah, upon reflection it could turn into full-time work!

For everyone's sake, let's hope not! I do hope that sooner rather than later, all of these scripts will go away. They are the result of a higher up in the IT department (who ended up getting fired) saying "no problem, I'll just write a perl script to handle that" when the dev team gave time estimates the business partner didn't like (you know, because we wanted to do QA and other silly stuff).

After several hundred scripts written with no QA and patched repeatedly in the wild as issues were encountered, you can imagine the mess. Especially after that guy was let go. The business partner did wise up, especially after these script allowed some very important financial transactions to get sent twice (hundred of thousands of dollars) and seeing what our re-write of those scripts looked like. When the business users speak of "perl" with distaste, you know an impression has been made. The sad thing is, it isn't the tool (I don't really know, but I assume perl is a pretty good tool used appropriately), but they way it was used.

What person thinks going into a completely windows environment with only windows system admins and decides to write perl scripts hosted on Linux box, I don't know. I guess when all you have is a hammer . . .

Absolutely. I've done perl development since '94 (my first script was for controlling a 9-track tape reader, and printing a report for paper logging). It's a great language, but it's expressiveness can get people into trouble. It's DWIM-iness is a double-edged sword.


Sounds like you're the one holding the hammer.

FWIW, it's possible to run perl on Windows, too. If you're uncomfortable with the scripts being on a linux box, perhaps step one should be move them to a Windows machine, so that you can at least admin the machine.

Hey! Stop undermining my contract!

Sorry.

True, but I don't hit non-nails with it- there's the difference

This idea was tossed around, but my opinion is, the more changes we make to the environment, the more risk we introduce to a very risk adverse situation.

I'm fairly certain we will be able to rid ourselves of these scripts in the next two years, but for now they must go up and fast. Being that we're already having to bring a dozen or so web/windows apps/services written in C# and Delphi, I'm personally not ready to tackle unballing these scripts and placing them on a windows box, and I think that's the situation for the rest of the team as well. I'd much rather get someone who knows what they are doing get it up and running (your contract is safe, Bitt!)