Since OP's subject is becoming a better Unix hacker, I recommend staying away from Bash's more advanced (or just useful) features. The more Unix you touch, the more you realize you can't rely on Bash to work how you expect it across all different systems (if they have Bash installed). You will end up relying more on sed, awk, grep and your shell scripting will become more generic - but more portable.
On the other hand, Perl rarely changes. If you find yourself forced into a Perl 4 system you can still use the basics of Perl 5. IMO, if you have a relatively complex job to perform, Perl is going to be more reliable than Bash.
On the other hand, Perl rarely changes. If you find yourself forced into a Perl 4 system you can still use the basics of Perl 5. IMO, if you have a relatively complex job to perform, Perl is going to be more reliable than Bash.