PHP gets mocked on developer forums, and it still runs 69.9% of the websites whose server-side language W3Techs can detect (W3Techs). Laravel is how a lot of that PHP gets written now. If your product runs on it, you already know the framework is productive. The hiring problem is that "Laravel developer" covers everyone from someone who installed a starter kit last month to an engineer who has kept a multi-tenant SaaS on current versions for six years.
Key Takeaways
- Laravel ships a major version every year, with 18 months of bug fixes and 2 years of security fixes. Upgrade habits matter.
- Laravel 13 requires PHP 8.3 or newer, so a candidate's PHP knowledge has to be current too.
- Test queues, database performance, and authorization. Tutorials don't teach those.
- Laravel developers are a smaller pool than JavaScript developers, so plan your search and your screen together.
The Upgrade Clock Is the Real Job Description
Laravel's support policy is short and specific: "bug fixes are provided for 18 months and security fixes are provided for 2 years" (Laravel docs). Laravel 13 came out on March 17, 2026. Laravel 11 stopped getting security fixes on March 12, 2026, and Laravel 12's bug-fix window closed in August 2026.
PHP runs on its own clock. Each branch gets two years of active support and two more of security fixes. PHP 8.2 reaches end of life at the end of 2026 (php.net).
What this means for a founder: if your app is two versions behind, you are one disclosed vulnerability away from an emergency. A strong Laravel hire treats upgrades as routine maintenance and can tell you how they have done them before, what broke, and how the test suite caught it. A weak one has only ever started fresh projects.
What to Screen For
Laravel makes the first 80% of an app easy. The remaining 20% is where seniority shows.
| Area | Junior signal | Senior signal |
|---|---|---|
| Eloquent | Relationships everywhere, no eager loading | Spots N+1 queries, uses `with()`, knows when raw queries win |
| Queues | Runs everything in the request | Moves slow work to jobs, handles retries and failed jobs |
| Authorization | Checks roles inside controllers | Uses policies and gates, tests them |
| Upgrades | "We never upgraded" | Has done at least one major-version upgrade with a plan |
| Frontend | Only one stack | Comfortable in whichever of Livewire or Inertia your team picked |
The frontend row matters more than it used to. Laravel 12 introduced starter kits for React, Svelte, Vue, and Livewire, and said Breeze and Jetstream will no longer receive updates (Laravel 12 release notes). If your app is on Jetstream, your next hire should be able to plan a way off it.
Authorization deserves extra time. Broken access control sits at #1 on the current OWASP Top 10 (OWASP). In a Laravel app, that usually means a controller that forgot to check whether this user owns this record. Ask the candidate to review a controller with exactly that bug in it. Our security engineering hiring guide has more on this.
A Concrete Version
A 20-person logistics company runs its dispatch app on Laravel 10 and PHP 8.1. Both are past their security support dates. The founder wants two new features this quarter and assumes the upgrade can wait.
The senior Laravel engineer they hire proposes a different order. First two weeks: add tests around the three flows that make money (booking, dispatch, invoicing), since the app has almost none. Weeks three to six: upgrade PHP to 8.3, then move through Laravel 11, 12, and 13 one version at a time, fixing breakage behind those tests. Weeks seven to eleven: build the two features on a supported stack.
The features ship about a month later than the founder wanted. In exchange, the company is back on software that gets security patches, and the new features are built on the version they will run for the next two years. That trade is almost always right, and a good hire will argue for it.
The Honest Counterpoint
The first risk is a hiring one: many Laravel resumes show only greenfield projects, and your app is not greenfield. Ask for an upgrade story before anything else.
On the technical side, Laravel is a weaker fit when your core product is real-time, compute-heavy, or needs a very large concurrent connection count. PHP's request model can handle those with extra tooling, but Node, Go, or Elixir are often more natural there. Compare the options in Django vs Rails vs Node before you commit a new product to any framework.
There is also a talent-pool reality. In Stack Overflow's 2025 survey, 9.3% of professional developers reported using Laravel, against 49.1% for Node.js (Stack Overflow). Good Laravel engineers exist in large numbers, but you are fishing in a smaller pond, and it pays to widen your search geographically rather than lower your bar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Laravel version should a new hire know?
Laravel 12 or 13, and the PHP 8.3+ features that come with them. Experience upgrading from an older version is worth more than familiarity with the newest release.
Livewire or Inertia: does it matter for hiring?
Match your stack. A strong Laravel engineer can learn the other in a couple of weeks, but a Vue or React-heavy Inertia app needs someone who is genuinely good at that frontend framework too.
How do I test a Laravel developer quickly?
Hand them a small app with an N+1 query, a missing policy check, and a slow task running inside a request. Ask them to find and fix all three. It takes about an hour and separates tutorial experience from production experience.
The Bottom Line
Hire Laravel developers for upgrade discipline, database judgment, and security habits, since the framework already handles the easy parts. Expect a smaller pool than JavaScript and widen your search accordingly. If you want to meet senior Laravel engineers who have cleared that screen, browse available engineers or get a quote for your role. If you're inheriting an old app, read how to take over an abandoned codebase first.
Roberto Espinoza is CEO of Ruzora, which helps US startups hire pre-vetted senior LATAM engineers, with a vetted shortlist in 72 hours. See available engineers.
