Perlmeister Mike Schilli celebrates 10 years
“I THINK IN PERL”
“One or two years in the USA would be great,” Mike Schilli thought back in 1996. The “Perlmeister” has lived in San Francisco for 11 years now, and he’s been writing the regular Perl column for almost as long.
When Mike Schilli, a.k.a. the Perlmeister [1], leaves his apartment and walks down the lively 24th Street in San Francisco’s Noe Valley, he regularly meets acquaintances and stops to visit. The green-card holder is still fascinated with the unique atmosphere in the City on the Bay. “San Francisco is close, like a village, but it still leaves you enough freedom for eccentricities,” he says. And this “village” is the perfect harbor for Mike in another sense: “Everybody’s a foreigner here. More or less nobody who lives here was actually born in San Francisco.” This has really helped Mike, who is from Augsburg, Germany, to get acclimatized.
Since the first Perl column back in 1996, Mike has worked for several companies.
After his first job with a startup called Blaxxun Interactive, Mike moved to AOL before the dotcom bubble burst. Mike moved to Yahoo! when America Online became entangled in the browser wars after acquiring Netscape and reduced staff levels in Mountain View, California, from 2000 to 200. Mike turned his Perl hobby into his profession.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.
-
What Open Source Pros Look for in a Job Role
Learn what professionals in technical and non-technical roles say is most important when seeking a new position.
-
Asahi Linux Runs into Issues with M4 Support
Due to Apple Silicon changes, the Asahi Linux project is at odds with adding support for the M4 chips.
-
Plasma 6.3.4 Now Available
Although not a major release, Plasma 6.3.4 does fix some bugs and offer a subtle change for the Plasma sidebar.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 First Release Candidate Now Available
Linux Torvalds has announced that the release candidate for the final release of the Linux 6.15 series is now available.
-
Akamai Will Host kernel.org
The organization dedicated to cloud-based solutions has agreed to host kernel.org to deliver long-term stability for the development team.