Laravel Framework
How to hire Laravel developers
Trying to build a web app that’s easy to maintain, test, and update as you scale? A Laravel developer can help. So how do you hire Laravel developers? What follows are some tips for finding top Laravel developers on Upwork.
How to shortlist Laravel professionals
As you’re browsing available Laravel consultants, it can be helpful to develop a shortlist of the freelancers you may want to interview. You can screen profiles on criteria such as:
- Technology fit. You want a Laravel developer who understands the technologies you wish to use with Laravel.
- Project experience. Screen candidate profiles for specific skills and experience (e.g., supporting a Vue.js front end with a Laravel back end).
- Feedback Check reviews from past clients for glowing testimonials or red flags that can tell you what it’s like to work with a particular Laravel developer.
How to write an effective Laravel job post
With a clear picture of your ideal Laravel developer in mind, it’s time to write that job post. Although you don’t need a full job description as you would when hiring an employee, aim to provide enough detail for a contractor to know if they’re the right fit for the project. An effective Laravel job post should include:
- Scope of work: From unit tests to database migrations, list all the deliverables you’ll need.
- Project length: Your job post should indicate whether this is a smaller or larger project.
- Background: If you prefer experience with certain developer tools or web technologies, mention this here.
- Budget: Set a budget and note your preference for hourly rates vs. fixed-price contracts.
Ready to power your web app with Laravel? Log in and post your Laravel job on Upwork today.
LARAVEL DEVELOPERS FAQ
What is Laravel?
Laravel is a PHP web development framework that’s known for its MVC (model-view-controller) support, database-agnostic migrations, and schema builder. Here’s a quick overview of the skills you should look for in Laravel consultants:
- Laravel framework
- PHP programming language
- Front-end fundamentals (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
- LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP)
Why hire Laravel developers?
The trick to finding top Laravel developers is to identify your needs. Are you looking for a developer experienced with Eloquent ORM (object-relational mapping) to help you manage your database through Laravel? Is your goal to stack a Laravel back end with a modern UI library such as Vue? The cost of your project will depend largely on your scope of work and the specific skills needed to bring your project to life.
How much does it cost to hire a Laravel developer?
- An experienced Laravel developer may command higher fees but also work faster, have more specialized areas of expertise, and deliver a higher-quality product.
- A freelancer who is still in the process of building a client base may price their Laravel services more competitively.
Which one is right for you will depend on the specifics of your project.
The Built-in Beauty of the Laravel Framework
According to Google Trends, the Laravel framework has been a favorite since its debut—surpassing other PHP frameworks like Zend, Symfony, and CodeIgniter over the years—but what makes it such a great tool? The short answer: built-in tools, libraries, and commands that make it easier than ever to build modern, secure real-time web applications. Here’s a quick look at some of Laravel’s stand-out features.
Laravel’s “Artisan” Tool and Database management
Laravel has its very own interface: the Artisan Console. Artisan can help streamline and perform repetitive and complex tasks so developers don’t have to, with built-in commands that help out during the development process.
Migrations start with an Artisan command, and each migration is time-stamped to help with version control issues—and with rolling back to prior versions, allowing you to recreate your entire database in one simple command. Plus, there’s more to Laravel and database management. Check out Eloquent ORM (object-relational mapping) for querying and manipulating your database.
Ship better apps faster with support from testing APIs and integrated unit testing
Speed is definitely one of Laravel’s selling points. With great, integrated unit testing support and excellent APIs, this MVC framework helps you get clean apps out the door fast on a deadline. PHPUnit is included out of the box, and Laravel provides APIs to support HTTP testing, file upload testing, JSON API testing, console tests, and the Laravel Dusk browser testing and automation API.
Front-end design made easy with Vue.js
Laravel bundles in the JavaScript UI framework Vue.js, and together these tools make a great team for complex front-ends. Laravel’s own template engine, Blade, provides really lightweight front-end templates with everything included, from CSS and text to images. Lightweight is a term that gets thrown around a lot when it comes to frameworks, but why is it important? The manageability and size of an app’s code overall. The more bloat, the harder it is to manage and the slower it runs.
Simple, streamlined MVC design and security features
In the same vein, Laravel uses the MVC programming paradigm, which is helpful to programmers in its mission to “separate concerns.” MVC is commonly used in backend frameworks—including other PHP contenders like CodeIgniter and CakePHP.
When it comes to security, Laravel makes it easy with out-of-the-box authentication and authorization, convenient email verification, a built-in encrypter (OpenSSL), and hashing. And, because Laravel acts as an intermediary system intercepting front-end requests to the server, it’s able to minimize website hacking via code injection.
Libraries that make it easier to add building blocks of code
Laravel abstracts more complex processes into simpler building blocks—that’s the essence of object-oriented programming (OOP), which Laravel leverages with libraries that cover everything from Authentication to password hashing algorithms.
Official packages and integrations that interface with third-party apps
Laravel’s Socialite package makes it even easier for developers to implement OAuth authentication from providers like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, GitHub, and Bitbucket.
Ultimately, a developer is going to be your best resource for which framework is better for your particular project. But if you’re looking to create a complex, fast application that updates quickly with minimal calls to your backend (and fewer resources required), Laravel is an excellent option.