PHP Development Track — Step 3

PHP Framework Developer

Laravel Framework, Composer, APIs, Testing & Production Deployment

16 Weeks Advanced GHS 1,550

Course Overview

This course takes you from raw PHP into professional framework-based development using Laravel — the most widely adopted PHP framework, used across the industry for production web applications. You will learn to manage dependencies with Composer, build structured MVC applications, develop RESTful APIs, write automated tests, and deploy to production with zero-downtime pipelines.

On completion, students are equipped to work as professional Laravel developers — capable of building, testing, securing, and deploying production-grade PHP applications using modern frameworks and tooling.

Learning Outcomes

Manage PHP dependencies and autoloading with Composer
Build MVC applications using Laravel — routing, controllers, Blade, Eloquent ORM
Design and build RESTful APIs with Laravel API resources and Sanctum authentication
Write unit and feature tests with PHPUnit; apply test-driven development
Optimise application performance with caching and query optimisation
Apply security hardening: CSRF, XSS, rate limiting, secrets management
Deploy a Laravel application to a live VPS with zero-downtime pipelines

Curriculum

Dependency management, autoloading, semantic versioning, managing vendor packages. Installing and configuring a Laravel project from scratch.

MVC pattern, why frameworks exist, comparing Laravel with Symfony and Yii2. Setting up your first Laravel project and understanding the directory structure.

Routing, controllers, Blade templates, Eloquent ORM, migrations, seeders. Exercise: build a full CRUD application.

RESTful API design, API resources, Sanctum authentication, versioning, JSON responses. Exercise: build and test a complete API.

PHPUnit basics, feature tests, unit tests, test-driven development workflow. Exercise: write tests before writing features.

Laravel caching strategies, query optimisation, eager loading, Redis integration, profiling with Laravel Telescope.

CSRF, XSS prevention, SQL injection protection, rate limiting, environment variables and secrets management.

Deploy to a VPS with Apache/Nginx, SSL with Certbot, zero-downtime deployment with Deployer, environment configuration.

Framework project code review, practical assessment, and Pinuno Academy certificate of completion.

Assessments & Grading

Assessment	Type	Weight
Section Exercises	Online exercises	15%
API Assignment Section 4	Laravel API submission	20%
Test Suite Section 5	PHPUnit test coverage	30%
Final Deployment Section 8–9	Live Laravel app + code review	35%

GHS 1,550

Full 9-section curriculum

Online

Certificate on completion

Pinuno Academy certificate awarded to graduates who meet the assessment requirements.

Prerequisites

Completion of PHP Application Developer
Solid understanding of PHP arrays, functions, and sessions
Basic understanding of HTML/CSS and web forms

Before You Begin

Free Development Environment

You need a PHP environment to complete the exercises. Two free options — choose based on your device and connection speed.

GitHub Codespaces Recommended

Full PHP environment in your browser — zero install

Create a free account at github.com
Apply for GitHub Education — free Pro account (120 hrs/month) + JetBrains IDE + DigitalOcean credits
Fork the Pinuno Academy starter repo (link on Day 1) and open as a Codespace — PHP 8.3, MySQL, Composer start automatically

Free 60–120 hrs/month No card needed

Local XAMPP / Laragon

Best for slow or metered internet connections