The blog

Notes on PHP, Laravel, modernization & AI-augmented engineering.

Practical articles for founders, CTOs and engineering teams hiring or running PHP applications.

Hiring & Pricing

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a PHP Developer in 2026?

Real PHP developer rates by region (US, EU, LATAM), engagement model, and seniority — plus the hidden costs nobody talks about.

·9 min read
Hiring & Pricing

Freelance vs Agency vs In-house PHP Developer: Which One Should You Hire?

A practical decision framework comparing freelance, agency, and in-house PHP developers across cost, speed, risk, and long-term fit.

·8 min read
Hiring & Pricing

10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Senior PHP Developer

The interview questions that actually separate senior PHP developers from inflated mid-levels — written for non-technical founders and hiring managers.

·7 min read
Legacy & Modernization

Migrating from PHP 5.6/7.x to PHP 8.3: A Practical Roadmap

A step-by-step PHP 8.3 migration roadmap with realistic timelines, automated tooling (Rector, PHPStan), and the risks nobody warns you about.

·11 min read
Legacy & Modernization

How to Rescue a Legacy PHP Project Without a Full Rewrite

A pragmatic playbook for modernizing a legacy PHP codebase incrementally using the strangler pattern — without freezing the business.

·10 min read
Legacy & Modernization

Laravel vs Raw PHP vs Symfony: Choosing the Right Stack in 2026

An honest comparison of Laravel, Symfony, and raw PHP in 2026 — when each one is the right call, and when it isn't.

·9 min read
Engineering & Performance

Scaling a Laravel Application: From 100 to 100k Users

Concrete techniques for scaling Laravel — caching, queues, database tuning, and horizontal scaling — through every order of magnitude of growth.

·12 min read
Engineering & Performance

PHP Security in 2026: OWASP Top 10 Applied to Real PHP Code

OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities mapped to real PHP and Laravel patterns — with concrete code examples of the bug and the fix.

·11 min read
Engineering & Performance

Designing REST APIs in PHP/Laravel That Don't Become Legacy

Patterns for designing PHP and Laravel REST APIs that age well — versioning, OpenAPI, idempotency, error contracts, and backward compatibility.

·10 min read
AI & Workflows

AI-Augmented PHP Development: Tools That Actually Help in 2026

An honest review of the AI tools that genuinely improve PHP development in 2026 — Copilot, Cursor, agents, code review automation — and which ones to skip.

·9 min read
AI & Workflows

Using LLMs to Refactor Legacy PHP Codebases Safely

A practical workflow for using LLMs and AI agents to refactor legacy PHP code — with the guardrails (tests, static analysis, review) that make it safe.

·9 min read
AI & Workflows

The Nearshore Advantage: Hiring PHP Talent from LATAM

Why hiring PHP developers from LATAM beats US in-house, EU contractors, and offshore in 2026 — time zones, costs, cultural fit, and what to watch for.

·8 min read