How to Hire Laravel Developers

Firstly before I dive into this topic, let me just be clear up front. I did use AI to help me write this blog post. I prompted it with a bullet-point list of my thoughts on this topic and had it write the bones of the article. Then I went through and chopped and changed it to my liking. Why am I telling you this – 🤷 – why not? Might as well own it, and then at least you know. Besides, is anyone actually going to read this? Lets hope so.

So, Laravel has become one of the most popular PHP frameworks in the world—and for good reason. It powers everything from early-stage MVPs to large-scale SaaS platforms, high-traffic eCommerce stores, content-heavy websites, and complex integrations. Because of that breadth, hiring the right Laravel developer can feel deceptively simple but quickly becomes overwhelming once you see how wide the talent pool really is.

Whether you’re hiring a freelancer, bringing someone onto your in-house team, or engaging a Laravel-focused agency, the process is ultimately about clarity: understanding what you need and evaluating developers on the fundamentals that matter.

Below is a practical, decision-maker-friendly guide to finding the right Laravel developer for your project.

1. Start with the Fundamentals: Strong PHP Experience

This sounds obvious, but it’s the most commonly overlooked criterion.

Laravel is a PHP framework—meaning good Laravel developers are good PHP developers first. When someone has a strong foundation in PHP:

• They understand the language beyond the framework’s abstractions.

• They write more reliable, performant code.

• They can navigate edge cases where Laravel’s “magic” doesn’t do all the heavy lifting.

• They’re better prepared to integrate with legacy systems or infrastructure outside the Laravel ecosystem.

🚩 A developer with only surface-level Laravel knowledge and weak core PHP skills may struggle once the project becomes more complex than tutorials.

2. The Laravel–Symfony Connection: Don’t Overlook Symfony Developers

Laravel is built on top of several Symfony components. This means:

• Developers with strong Symfony experience can often transition to Laravel very effectively.

• They already understand many underlying concepts and components.

• Their experience with more “enterprise” Symfony architectures can be an asset for complex or large-scale Laravel builds.

If you’re struggling to find the right Laravel talent, including Symfony developers in the candidate pool can dramatically broaden your options—especially for senior roles. That said, it works both ways. A little bit of Symfony experience won’t make up for a lack of a broader experience.

3. Laravel Can Power a Huge Range of Projects — And So Do Laravel Developers

Laravel is used for:

• SaaS applications

• eCommerce stores

• Marketplaces

• API-driven products

• Internal tools and dashboards

• Enterprise integrations

• Content-rich websites

• Event-driven and queue-heavy systems

Because Laravel is capable of so much, Laravel developers vary just as widely.

Some specialise in front-end heavy apps. Some focus on backend systems and APIs. Some are DevOps-oriented. Some thrive in early-stage greenfield builds; others excel in scaling, optimisation, and refactoring.

There is no single “Laravel developer type.”
What matters is matching the developer’s strengths to your project’s needs.

4. Be Clear On What You’re Building Before You Hire

This is where many hiring decisions go wrong.

A developer who is brilliant at building marketing sites using Laravel + Livewire might not be the best person for a mission-critical, event-driven, high-volume SaaS system relying on queues, caching layers, and distributed job processing.

Consider questions like:

• Is your project greenfield or a rescue/refactor?

• How complex is the domain?

• Do you need someone comfortable with scaling and architecture?

• Will there be heavy API work?

• Will the developer manage DevOps or just application logic?

• Are you expecting quick delivery or long-term maintainability?

• Do you need someone comfortable with front-end (e.g., Vue, React, Livewire) or just backend?

Being precise about what you’re building helps you avoid mismatched hires and makes your search vastly more efficient.

5. Hiring Laravel Developers Isn’t Very Different From Hiring Good Developers in General

Laravel skills matter—but great Laravel developers are great developers, full stop.

Look for the universal fundamentals:

• Strong problem-solving skills

• Clean coding practices

• Experience working in teams

• Ability to communicate technical decisions clearly

• Familiarity with version control and modern workflows

• Curiosity and continuous learning

• A track record of shipping and maintaining real-world applications

Laravel simply becomes the lens through which you evaluate these qualities.

6. Look for Familiarity With the Laravel Ecosystem and Tooling

The Laravel ecosystem is one of its biggest strengths. Developers who deeply understand and use the ecosystem tend to build faster, write better code, and maintain higher project quality.

Some tools to look for in a developer’s experience:

• Horizon — For managing and monitoring queue workers

• Telescope — For debugging and introspecting requests, jobs, exceptions, and more

• Pest — For elegant and modern testing

• Laravel Pint — For code style consistency

• Forge — For server provisioning and deployment

• Envoyer — For zero-downtime deployments

• Livewire — For building reactive UIs with minimal JavaScript

• Filament or Nova — For admin panels

• Cashier, Passport, Sanctum, Scout, Socialite, Jetstream, Breeze — Framework add-ons and accelerators (The list goes on 😅)

• Vapor — For serverless Laravel on AWS

You don’t need a developer to know all of these, but familiarity with a subset—especially ones relevant to your project—signals strong practical experience.

7. Choosing Freelance, Agency, or In-House Talent

Your ideal option depends on speed, budget, risk tolerance, and how critical the project is.

Freelancers

Great for:

• Short-term or well-defined projects

• Prototypes, MVPs, and smaller builds

• Occasional ongoing support

Avoid if:

• You need continuity or long-term ownership

• You lack technical oversight internally

Agencies

Great for:

• Faster delivery using a full team

• Larger or more complex builds

• Projects requiring UX/design + engineering + DevOps together

• Guaranteed coverage, QA, and support

Avoid if:

• Your budget is limited

• You need internal capability building

In-House Developers

Great for:

• Products requiring deep domain knowledge

• Ongoing development and iteration

• Long-term maintenance and ownership

Avoid if:

• Project scope is small or short-term

• You can’t support onboarding or engineering culture internally

8. Final Thoughts

Hiring the right Laravel developer is less about finding someone who knows every artisan command and more about matching the right person to the right project. Laravel’s power lies in its versatility—and so does the ecosystem of developers who use it.

If you define what you’re trying to achieve, look for strong PHP fundamentals, evaluate ecosystem fluency, and apply the same timeless principles you’d use when hiring any excellent developer, you’ll dramatically improve your chances of making a great hire—whether freelance, agency, or in-house.