No Compromises

Do you like to fiddle with settings? Joel doesn't. Find out why, and hear about one example where we like deviating from the defaults.Learn more about Laravel at masteringlaravel.io

Maybe you've inherited a project and just looking at how the code is organized makes your head hurt. Before you go ripping it apart and "making it better", it can be useful to take a step back and use a more measured approach.Want us to work with your team? Book a free call to see if we can help.

You've inherited a legacy app. It's "running fine" in production, but when you add an error reporting tool, you see hundreds of errors, warnings, and notices logged each day. What do you do?Check out our books and courses at masteringlaravel.io

Can a Laravel developer learn something from the Rails or Erlang communities? We share some perspective on how to broaden your horizons, and when might be a good time in your career to do that.Download our free ebook 7 Steps to Securing Your Laravel App.

Many of us have built something we thought was "throw-away" code, only to have someone decide it's good enough to ship to production. How can you prepare for this, and avoid problems when it happens?Check out Aaron's blog and Joel's blog for even more amazing wisdom.

If you are listening to this, you probably enjoy hearing other people share what they've learned. In this episode, we turn the tables and explain why you should consider sharing what you've learned as well.Listening to us is just part of the fun. You can read what we've written too at masteringlaravel.io

How can you handle an interruption to your work, especially if it is an urgent request for help? We discuss how to do this without derailing your planned work for the day.Let us know if you have a question or topic you'd like to discuss on the show. Contact us with your suggestions, or just to tell us how great we're doing.

We walk through a recent experience where Joel was about to "burn down the world," as Aaron calls it. Instead, after doing a little exploration of the Laravel framework code, we landed on a much cleaner solution.Want some help to make your Laravel SaaS better? Book a free 30 minute call.

It feels good to finish a project, but before you move on, there are benefits to pausing and reflecting on what went well and what could have been better.If you're enjoying the podcast, we'd really appreciate it if you shared it with a fellow developer.

We have to ship this feature in 2 weeks! Do we have time to test? In this episode we talk through this scenario and share some benefits of testing even under the pressure of a looming deadline.Free, practical advice on how to improve your Laravel app at masteringlaravel.io

For some values, it can be tricky to know whether it's better to calculate it on the fly or when to calculate it once and store in the database. We talk through a recent scenario we bumped into, and what factors to weigh when making this decisionDownload our free Laravel tips ebook.

We share a few rules that help guide us to determine when to manually fire an event versus when to wire up a model observer.Make my phone buzz and download a book to make you a better Laravel developer.

Wrapping up our series on how we work, we talk through the end of a project and how to make sure there are no surprises.Download the free security tips ebook from masteringlaravel.io.It's not easy being green

You learned a best practice, and it served you well. Is it set in stone? Or should you be open to re-evaluate later?Get those free e-books at masteringlaravel.io

We've all had disagreements about how to write or organize code, or how a feature should work. We share some tips on how to discuss it productively.Be a Joel, not a Cole: masteringlaravel.io

Setting up a useful staging environment involves a number of choices. We discuss our preferred strategies and talk about why having a staging environment is a good thing.

This isn't meant to be an insult. It's actually a good thing that your project isn't completely unique, and you can benefit from what other people have already learned.

Continuing our series on "how we work", today we finally get to the dev work. How we organize it, plan it, and communicate with the project stakeholders.I heard this site is cool: masteringlaravel.io

Aaron shares a few things that he's bumped into with policies in his apps, and we talk through some possible solutions or processes to help avoid them.Tweet @jclermont if there's something you'd like us to discuss.

When you inherit a project, how do you draw a balance before making everything nice to work with and delivering value to the stakeholders?Check out masteringlaravel.io

Have a question? Want us to discuss a topic? Do you like sending email to random people on the Internet?Contact us at [email protected] for all of the above.

You just attended a conference or finished a book/course and you're all excited to try out some new "best practice". We discuss how to balance this enthusiasm with the needs of your team and project.* Check out masteringlaravel.io* Download our free Laravel Tips ebook

As developers, coding is the fun part, but we share why we like to slow down and take some time to wireframe before diving into the editor* Download our free Laravel Tips ebook

* Github Actions by Michael Heap (50% discount for podcast listeners)* masteringlaravel.io - get a jump start on validation with our free worksheet

Check out our new website: MasteringLaravel.io

The broken window theory of programmingNew site launch! MasteringLaravel.io

This episode is a little different. We take a peek behind the scenes as to how we qualify projects, and the sorts of things you might think about before deciding whether or not to take on something new.Find out more about Mastering Laravel Validation Rules.

Roles and permissions are a core part of most applications. Laravel provides some tools for managing and enforcing this, and third party packages provide even more features. Aaron and Joel share their techniques for enforcing roles and permissions, in a way that won't get harder to manage over time.Download our free eBook of Laravel tips: A Little Bit of LaravelOur favorite permissions package: laravel-permission

When you're building a Laravel app, you're writing PHP code, but you're dealing with many patterns and conveniences provided by Laravel. So where do you draw the line between the two? Is it important? We discuss this topic and how you can get the most out of what both PHP and Laravel have to offer.Download our free eBook of Laravel tips: A Little Bit of LaravelFun game to learn/practice regular expression syntax: Regex Crossword

> Developer: "I just need to SSH in real quick"> Server admin: "No"Have you had this discussion? Listen in as Joel and Aaron talk about their experience on teams of different sizes, and how to handle this potential conflict, while still getting your work done.Download our free eBook of Laravel tips: A Little Bit of Laravel

Where should I place this curly brace? Trailing commas or not? Have you encountered disagreements about coding standards on your team. In this episode we explain the benefits of coding standards, how to adopt them on your project, and discuss the two most popular tools in the PHP community for enforcing them.Download our free eBook of Laravel tips: A Little Bit of Laravel

We've all been stuck with something we didn't know. Should you ask for help? And how? Or if someone on your team asks you a question, how can you handle it best? We discuss it all.Download our free eBook of Laravel tips: A Little Bit of Laravel

What are the big 3 types of tests we use on our projects? How do we decide which to use? Listen in as we discuss this and more.Need help improving your testing strategy, or just need help to get your team started with testing? Setup a free consultation call.

It's no tabs versus spaces, but it's close. Do you use guarded or fillable in your Laravel models? Aaron and Joel share their default approach, as well as several reasons for that choice.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!Find out more about Mastering Laravel Validation Rules.

It's easy to get used to things that cause us friction or pain in our development process. In this episode, we discuss how to avoid that trap and how to evaluate when to invest time in fixing that pain.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!Find out more about Mastering Laravel Validation Rules.

Validation may seem boring, but it's a vital part of any Laravel application. Joel and Aaron share some tips on validation along with exciting news about a new resource to master Laravel validation rules.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!Find out more about Mastering Laravel Validation Rules.

Why is it important to think about a future project hand-off at the beginning of a client relationship? Aaron and Joel share their approach.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!

Last episode we discussed how to deal with a "slow app" complaint. This episode we discuss some technical approaches to find and fix the issue.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!

The dreaded support ticket gets filed: App is slow! Before you get defensive or close as "Won't fix", consider a few tips on how to successfully approach this situation.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!Ed Balls Day wikipedia article

Aaron and Joel have joined a fair number of projects over the years. Listen as they share some tips on how to make process less painful for your team.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!

Laravel and PHP have a rich ecosystem, but it's good to weigh the pros and cons before reaching for a new package. We share some things to consider.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!

Where are some good starting points for modernizing and improving a legacy codebase? Joel and Aaron discuss a few ideas where you could start.Sign up for our Laravel tips newsletter!Does anyone read these? Tweet @jclermont if you see this.

The eternal question that every developer hears: How long is that going to take? Aaron and Joel discuss some ways to frame that question, and how to provide an estimate that will avoid unnecessary disappointment.00:00 Accurate estimates can be difficult02:00 Disconnect between a developer and a stakeholder03:00 How Aaron approaches an estimate06:05 Pad the estimate? Ranges?07:38 The importance of open communication08:12 Translating "hours" into real world time09:50 Planning not pricing11:56 Silly bitSign up for our weekly newsletter of Laravel tips.

Stepping into an unfamiliar codebase with a long history can be a challenge. Aaron and Joel share some tips on how to get started and build confidence that you're making things better.00:00 What is a "legacy" code base?01:00 Getting those first tests in a legacy code base03:05 Starting with unit tests can be hard04:20 Be extra careful with external APIs07:15 Onboarding a new project08:35 Getting more specific on the first few tests10:38 Silly bitSign up for our newsletter of Laravel tips.

Some shy away from code review, not wanting to be critiqued. Aaron and Joel share some tips on how to get the most out of code reviews, and things to look for as a code reviewer.00:00 The value of a code review process02:53 Look at it as a learning opportunity04:06 Approaching a pull request to review it06:05 Should we make this better?07:00 Did the programmer have a reason for what they did?09:05 Everyone on the team should get their code reviewed10:25 Silly bit

Aaron and Joel talk about why they write tests and what sorts of tests they find valuable.00:00 Why do we write tests?03:05 Implied trust in packages04:15 What do you test? How do you write them?06:30 Testing the happy path07:05 Testing the "unhappy" paths08:12 It's less work than you think11:30 Testing a dumb mistake with range validators14:40 Silly bit

We discuss a couple scenarios where there's more than one way to do something, and how we think through our decision.00:00 How to pick what file to put this code in?01:51 An example of a single-action controller03:15 Should everything be single-action?04:58 How many methods on a controller is too many?06:10 Where do you put authorization logic?08:00 Consistency is important08:45 Silly bit

How do you learn a new technology? Or how do you find out what's changed in the latest version of something you already use? Aaron and Joel share some tips on what they do.00:00 So many new things to learn00:56 Importance of reading docs02:00 Reading versus doing03:45 Be curious when reading05:20 How to get hands-on practice07:30 Learning a new release of an existing tool10:15 Improve the docs!12:15 Silly bitExercises for Programmers from Pragmatic Press

The technologies we work with are extremely detailed. Without a clear mental model of how things work together, it's easy to get lost or confused.00:00 A common pattern when a dev is stuck01:12 What is a "mental model"?02:15 A concrete example of a mental model04:30 Discussing rebase versus merge06:30 A PHP specific example for rebase07:40 Mental models for queue workers10:10 Open source helps us understand11:30 Silly bit

Disagreements and debate can sap your team's energy. We'll talk about some ways to avoid unnecessary conflicts, and how to successfully handle a difference of opinion on your team.00:00 Developers want the "one true way" to do something01:45 Handling a difference of opinion02:33 Staying consistent within a project03:44 Using tools to help consistency06:00 Document your project standards07:37 Keep an open mind11:01 Choose your battles wisely12:25 Involve the whole team in the discussion13:05 Silly bit