Hire PHP Developers

A modern PHP codebase reads very differently from the PHP most people remember. Files declare strict types, value objects use readonly properties, status fields are backed enums instead of magic strings, and match expressions replace long switch blocks. Dependencies come through Composer with a committed lock file, configuration lives in environment variables rather than in code, and the application is structured around a framework rather than a folder of scripts that include each other.

On Laravel that means thin controllers, form request validation, Eloquent models with explicit casts and scopes, queued jobs for anything slow, and policies for authorisation. On Symfony it means autowired services, Doctrine entities and repositories, and the Messenger component for asynchronous work. In both cases static analysis with PHPStan or Psalm runs in CI at a level the team agrees on, so type errors are caught before review rather than in production.

Legacy PHP rescue starts with reading, not rewriting. We map the entry points, the database tables each one touches and the places where user input reaches SQL or HTML unescaped. Then we put characterisation tests around the behaviour that matters most - tests that record what the code does today, right or wrong - so every later change can be checked against them.

Version upgrades follow the same discipline. We move one version step at a time, using Rector to apply mechanical changes such as removed functions, new syntax and deprecated dynamic properties, and PHPStan to surface what Rector cannot fix. Old mysql_* calls are replaced with PDO and prepared statements, abandoned Composer packages are swapped for maintained ones, and the upgraded application runs on a staging environment before production traffic sees it. Where a framework migration is needed - plain PHP or an old CodeIgniter app moving to Laravel, for example - it is usually done route by route, with old and new code running side by side until the last screen moves over.

PHP applications are probed constantly, so security is part of the definition of done rather than a final audit. We work through the OWASP Top 10 as a checklist: parameterised queries everywhere, output escaping through Blade or Twig, CSRF protection on every state-changing form, password hashing with the built-in password_hash function, strict file-upload validation, and authorisation checks on every route rather than only on the menu that links to it. Secrets stay out of the repository, and composer audit runs in the pipeline to flag packages with known vulnerabilities.

Testing uses PHPUnit or Pest, with feature tests that hit real routes against a test database and unit tests for the business rules. For performance we profile before tuning: most slow PHP pages turn out to be N+1 queries, missing indexes or work that belongs in a queue. OPcache is configured properly, heavy reads are cached in Redis, and for high-throughput Laravel APIs, Octane can keep the application booted between requests.

On a PHP project, AI tools take on the repetitive layers: drafting migrations and Eloquent models from a schema, scaffolding resource controllers, form requests and API resources, generating Pest test cases for each endpoint, and suggesting type annotations and Rector rules when untyped legacy code is being modernised. They are also useful for reading legacy code - summarising what a sprawling, undocumented include file does before anyone changes it.

Your developer owns every decision that needs judgement: the data model, the boundaries between modules, which legacy behaviour is a bug and which is a business rule someone depends on, and whether a query is safe. Every AI-drafted line is read, tested and checked against the security checklist above before it is merged, so the speed gain never comes at the expense of the code you have to live with.