Author: Mike Lopez
-
From Developer to Leader: Lessons I Wish I Knew Earlier in My PHP Journey
If you told 25-year-old me that one day Iād be managing a team of PHP developers, reviewing performance metrics, and negotiating deadlines with stakeholders, I probably wouldāve laughed and gone back to refactoring some poorly written legacy class. I didnāt start my career with āleadershipā in mindāmy focus was all about clean code, fast queries,…
-
Optimizing Large PHP Codebases Without Breaking Everything
When you’re working in a large PHP codebase, optimization isn’t just about speedāit’s about survival. You canāt just go in and start swapping out loops or rewriting core logic without risking a domino effect thatāll take your entire app down with it. So here’s how I approach optimizing large PHP projects without blowing them up.…
-
Hiring PHP Developers in 2025: What I Look For (And What I Ignore)
Hiring a PHP developer in 2025 isnāt what it used to be. Gone are the days when āknows Laravelā or ācan write SQL joinsā was enough to get my attention. Over the years, Iāve refined what I look forāand just as importantly, what I donāt care about anymore. Let me walk you through what matters…
-
How to Manage a High-Performing PHP Team Without Overengineering Your Workflow
Managing a high-performing PHP team can sometimes feel like juggling flaming chainsaws while riding a unicycle. Thereās a constant urge to do moreāadd more tools, more processes, more layers of abstractionāall in the name of productivity and scalability. But hereās the kicker: sometimes, all that “more” ends up doing less for your team. Iāve led…
-
How Eager Loading Works in ORM (With PHP Examples)
When I first started using ORMs in PHP, I loved how clean and readable my code became. But I quickly ran into performance problemsāthings were getting sluggish, and I couldnāt figure out why. Thatās when I discovered the magic (and danger) of lazy loading, and why eager loading is a tool every developer needs in…
-
How to Implement MySQL Pagination in PHP (Step-by-Step Guide)
Pagination: itās how you turn āHereās a mullion rowsā into āHereās 20 rows per page” without melting your server. Alright, before we dive ināthis post assumes you already know how to connect to MySQL using PHP’s PDO. If that sounds like gibberish, hit pause and go learn that first. Iāll wait. š Still here? Great.…
-
10 PHP Performance Pitfalls and How to Fix Them Like a Pro
Letās be realāmost PHP performance issues arenāt caused by exotic edge cases. Theyāre caused by small mistakes that quietly accumulate until your server starts sweating. Over the years, Iāve fallen into every performance trap in the bookāand watched others do the same. So hereās a list of the top 10 PHP performance pitfalls Iāve seen…
-
Scaling PHP Projects: Management Tactics That Actually Work for Remote Teams
Scaling a PHP project while leading a remote team can feel like juggling fireāwith one hand tied behind your back. The good news? Itās not magic. Itās management. And if you do it right, it actually scales. Hereās whatās worked for me. 1. Codebase ā Product ā Project This sounds obvious, but itās a trap…
-
How to Lead a Remote PHP Team Without Burning Out Your Developers
When I first started managing a remote PHP team, I made all the rookie mistakes: too many meetings, too few boundaries, and way too much Slack. Burnout wasnāt immediateābut it was inevitable. Iāve since changed the way I lead. Hereās what Iāve learned about keeping remote PHP developers productive without running them into the ground.…
-
The Leadership Skill No One Talks About: Patience
We love to talk about decisiveness. About boldness, charisma, vision. We glamorize āmove fast and break thingsā leadership like itās the only kind that works. But thereās one leadership skill that rarely gets any spotlightāpatience. Itās not sexy. It doesnāt make great TED Talk soundbites. But in my experience, patience is one of the most…