I'm in a similar boat. I hated it too until I learned it was supposed to be the Unix language of choice that sits between needing Bash/Awk/Sed & C/C++. At that point the odd conventions and philosophy make more sense. I still use Python most of the time for my scripting needs, but am glad I can switch to Perl every now and then when I need it. The one liners are great too for terminal work.
I can see that. Especially the image of the girders and ductwork showing really resonated. I would have been more suspicious of him just being a good salesperson if he wasn't a great programmer. It's on my todo list, now.
