Introduction

Website design required a lot of coding effort in the past. With the advent of powerful frameworks with in-built features and components, it has become easier to create dynamic web content in a jiffy. CodeIgniter was one of the first PHP frameworks that were quite popular. However, its less compatibility with the newer versions of PHP has paved the way for other frameworks like Symfony, FuelPHP, and Laravel.‍

Laravel

Laravel is a new entrant among PHP frameworks with expressive syntax and excellent documentation features on board. It uses modern PHP features to get a fully functional web application up and running in no time. It is effortless to customize the features according to your needs as well as include complex functionality in the websites you create.

How Laravel Increases Productivity?

Laravel provides flexible driver-based components that web developers can use to create the applications in their own way. PHP is easy to set up and to host on even cheaper web hosts. Developers find it easy to learn and work using the simple concepts of PHP with just the knowledge of basic HTML and CSS. However, there is a downfall of the developers immediately starting to code because of the ease of working with PHP, which becomes challenging to change a part of the code later if the developers want to edit or add functionality.

Also, if you use your own tools for web-based application development, you may find it challenging to maintain, include new features or create documentation as the whole process is time-consuming. Working in liaison with other teams adds a higher level of difficulty to the existing process as it takes more time for the other team members to understand the code.

Laravel can increase the productivity of the users by

• Reusing components for a more structured approach
• Making it easier for users to separate out functionality
• Making it easier for users to add new functionality to the existing system
• By offering a robust set of tools and an extensive architecture framework with powerful features

Laravel comes to the rescue of PHP to overcome redundancy and complexity issues in creating dynamic websites over Ruby and Python, which are more of a general-purpose language. Laravel relies on a more robust and stable HTTP foundation created by Symfony. It has embraced many components created by Symfony, for instance, SwiftMailer for e-mailing, Carbon for date and time handling, Doctrine for database abstraction tools, error reporting, and handling logging. Laravel is compatible with the new features of PHP and hence, requires a newer version like 5.4.

Laravel works on MVC-based architecture. It has many features to support the MVC pattern. If you have used the MVC pattern earlier, then using the Laravel framework is relatively easy. It offers code modularity with a combination of drivers and its bundle system of reusable code, which you can share with the Laravel community. Bundles consisting of simple libraries and web applications can dramatically ease the development of your web application. Laravel also provides the tools to enable database migrations in a platform-independent manner to avoid compatibility issues.

Why Developers Choose Laravel?

Laravel provides beautiful code features that help developers write quick and simple code according to their own requirements. It provides ease of use to the developers rather than just target compatibility with the goals of enterprise development teams. It provides a consistent API for the developers to assist in rapid application development.

It also provides tools like Homestead and Valet for local development, Envoyer for advanced deployment, and Forge for server management. There is also a suite of add-on packages for different functions like Cashier for payments, Passport for API authentication, Socialite for social login, and Dusk for front-end testing. Laravel requires minimal work than with other frameworks. It facilitates the connection between its creator and its community and draws its inspiration from Ruby and Rails and other functional programming languages. It is the right choice for creating expressive, dynamic, and creative web content using simple code and features. It gives you a great opportunity to bring your ideas into realistic web content without wasting your time on coding and extensive testing by providing a robust set of tools.

It has well-authenticated HTTP middleware that protects your application. Every request should pass through the middleware for authentication, taking care of the security aspect of your application. An experienced developer might take more time to create well-structured containers to handle user requests/responses and take care of security at the same time. Laravel also helps you to solve multiple problems with:

• Simple features
• Minimal configuration
• Powerful, adaptable features for PHP
• Expressive syntax standards
• Easy use by entry-level and senior developers
• Access to bundled libraries by the Laravel community

The higher-level code modules do not depend on lower-level code modules making coding more accessible. Laravel is also easy to install and use.

Evolution of Laravel through other frameworks

CodeIgniter

It was one of the first PHP frameworks along with CakePHP and the most popular in 2010. It was easy to use with excellent documentation features. However, it was not adaptable to PHP’s tooling and other advanced features. It lost its popularity when it wasn’t able to support the PHP 5.3’s newer features.

Laravel versions 1, 2 and 3

Laravel 1 was introduced as a beta version in 2011. It consisted of customizable components like the ORM, a module system for extension, and helpers for forms, authentication, etc.

Later versions 2 and 3 were introduced in 2011 and 2012, respectively, which added new features like the controllers, command-line tool, unit testing, and migration.

Laravel version 4

The entire framework of the older versions was rewritten as a bundle of components and distributed together by Composer. Laravel 4 took many of its components from Symfony and was released in 2013 with the name Illuminate. It also introduced other interesting features such as database seeding, queues, and a mail component.

Laravel version 5

Laravel 5 was released in 2015, introducing the contract interfaces, removal of form and HTML helpers, revamped directory structure, Elixir for asset compilation, and Socialite for social media authentication.

Laravel version 6

Laravel 6 was introduced in 2019 with the removal of string and array global helpers and version numbering. More versions are released frequently post Laravel version 5.

Required Expertise

Requirements - hard skills

• Demonstrates expertise in strategic and creative thinking and problem-solving techniques in building and maintaining customer-facing websites
• Strong website development and design skills and is eager to meet the needs of the customers
• Possess a holistic understanding of modern front-end development stacks like Laravel Mix, Task runners, preprocessors, etc.
• An eye for UI/UX best practices
• Proficiency with MySQL or other flavors of SQL
• Strong familiarity with MVC frameworks and object-oriented code
• Familiarity with using classes, interfaces, and traits
• Proficient in writing HTML/CSS code and building APIs
• Experience creating REST APIs and version control using Git proficiency writing and optimizing SQL queries
• Knowledge of standard tools for optimizing and testing code
• Expertise in building full-featured Laravel Applications
• Understanding of Laravel Documentation
• Familiarity with best security practices
• Experience writing unit tests/detailing test procedures
• Troubleshoot problems to provide a higher level of customer satisfaction

Experience

Laravel is about implementing solutions in a way that is clean, simple, and elegant. It uses convention over configuration. A Laravel developer is expected to make intelligent assumptions about what he is trying to accomplish with much less code. PHP developers will find features of Laravel familiar as it is the result of the evolution of many of the earlier PHP development frameworks.

• Work within a team of Web developers, front-end designers, and backend content management and hosting programmers to develop, maintain and support websites
• Develop requirements and implementation specifications for application and platform
• Develop strategies to help improve the capabilities, functionality, security, and integrity of both new and existing frameworks, application architecture, and reusable code libraries
• Maintain and develop new features for several custom Laravel applications
• Work with 3rd party APIs to enhance website functionality
• Rapidly solve problems, bugs, and compatibility issues
• Balance the short term vs. long term customer/business needs
• Engage in refactoring code to increase performance

Salary Structure

Laravel is gaining popularity with its ease of use and new features to make secure and scalable applications. You can employ Laravel developers as regular employees or freelance contractors for your web application development requirements. As the field of web design gets more creative with real-time web applications on-demand, there is more scope for Laravel developers to excel in their careers.

Skuad helps you to locate the brightest talent in the industry for your job needs.

The salary range for Laravel developers in different levels is listed below.

Industry Expertise

We cater to various sectors - Edutech, Fintech, Healthcare, Logistics & Transport, Retail & Ecommerce, Travel, Banking, Media, and more. From selecting to onboarding, invoicing, compliances, and taxation, we act as your local HR to manage the day-to-day operations related to your overseas employees.