I gravitated towards Perl around the year 2000 likely due to both the wide availability of the language and the relative maturity of CPAN at the time.
I think I was ultimately disillusioned a bit by my perception that the TIMTOWTDI mentality introduced signific fragmentation within the ecosystem. I’m overdue to take an updated look. If nothing else I’m due to re-read Perl Best Practices since from what I remember the assertions within that book make it worth going through regardless of your chosen language.