I am also not a Perl programmer (anymore). I used to program in Perl decades ago and mostly switched essentially because of the hype. I've now many years of professional experience with Python and while I really like the language and will continue to use it I have to say that Perl gets too much bashing and Python sometimes not enough.

I think there are a number of reasons for this. One is that a lot more Perl code got written by non programmers (sysadmins) than Python code. People know Perl for regexes and "golf" (writing extremely short code), which looks like "compressed" (as in Closure/uglify compiled) JavaScript: Ugly.

The main thing that I disliked about Perl is something I also dislike about C, which is writing arrows. Other than that using other languages like Python didn't get me a lot.

You can and will write ugly, unmaintainable code and long unreadable lines in both Python and Perl. The main thing that makes Python look prettier seems to be forced indention, but believe it or not Perl can be indented too. The other thing probably are sigils, which are also a rather powerful feature.

There are of course different tradeoffs. Perl is more on the Ruby/JavaScript side, where people prefer expressiveness of code, where Python people prefer simplicity. And while I always for simplicity I don't think whether the community in large sets a bit more focus here or there there doesn't seem to be a great indicator for whether to choose one or the other language.

When comparing Perl with Python or Ruby, which I think are maybe other than JavaScript make the most sense in terms of use cases I think Perl influenced both of them more than a lot of programmers realize.

Despite the others being very mature I think Perl would wins on the edge of having solid modules and infrastructure. It certainly doesn't win in terms of image and popularity. What is nice about Perl is that the shortcomings of the languages have been largely compensated via modules. That includes modules that add changes to the syntax or add really big features like Moose, adding a lot around the topic of Object Oriented Programming, more than you have available in other languages.

Another thing I want to point out is, that Mojolicious is by far the best web framework I've seen so far. It's my personal opinion, but it beats everything available in the Python and Ruby world by far. And at least with Python I've used Django and Flask for multiple years, as well as taken a look at others.

The eco system in general is really good. There is a lot in regards to testing. If you really are into test driven development that alone might be a reason to give Perl a shot and be it simply to steal some ideas around this topic. That includes many modules around the topic of testing as well as CPAN Testers and other things.

For the bad side. Other than reputation, the learning curve is higher. This has a multitude of reasons. One is that Perl was designed after natural languages, which explains many of its oddities. That's why it isn't as easy to pick up as other languages. Knowing other languages simply might not help you as much.

Another is that a lot of very old and bad Perl tutorials are around. So one might want to look at something that in one way or the other mentions Modern Perl.

One might think to know and understand Perl really quickly, but it simply takes longer than knowing how to write Perl. This is why it makes a lot of sense to read Perl code from some "big people" in the community.

In terms of industry usage. I think the big names here are DuckDuckGo, Craigslist, eBay (I think), Amazon (I think).

However that probably is very outdated.

A good reason to not learn Perl is if you want a simple language. Perl simply is not that. I changed to prefer simple languages, which might be the reason I am now sticking mostly to Go and Python. However, it might open your eyes about different ways of simplicity here and there.

It's also good to know the other side and know how "simple" certain more complex tasks can be, if you just approach them with another tool.

Okay, this wasn't so much about the industry. It's certainly around, both for older and newer projects. I've seen it both in the Enterprise and Startup scene and not just online.

It's more quiet, but then most projects that have been around for a while don't have any big news. Debian, Postgres, various OSs, etc.

Oh one more reason: If you like it boring to get stuff done then use Perl. I think the Perl5/Perl6 thing is over and everyone agrees they are two different languages, so it's not like in Python where you still have so many projects supporting just a subset of Python in order to keep compatibility.

I think if you have Perl developers, which certainly exist, even in large quantities, choosing that one rather than Python certainly won't give you a big downside or so.

I think they are pretty much the same in that regard, even though I am pretty sure that neither community would agree on that statement.

I chose Python and Go for everything I do, mostly cause I haven't been programming Perl in ages and so my development setup, my muscle memory, etc. and money is all there, still I don't think other than that Python really has an edge over Perl. Again. I know people will disagree.

I haven't touched Perl in 10+ years. At all in fact. So if anything I am biased towards Python.