Backend Engineering with PHP and Laravel
Write maintainable modern PHP (types, exceptions, namespaces) suitable for team backends
Backend Engineering with PHP and Laravel teaches you to design, build, test, and operate professional backend systems on Laravel 13 and modern PHP (8.3+).
You will LEARN maintainable PHP and Laravel structure; BUILD authenticated APIs with Eloquent, policies, queues, and tests; and GROW the operational judgment to ship safely — migrations, workers, secrets, caching, and incident-aware runbooks.
This is not a CRUD tutorial and not a frontend course. Free Africoders discovery content may warm you up; this Premium track is the structured engineering curriculum with practice, assessment, and a portfolio-grade Marketplace Orders API capstone.
Further reading
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What you will learn
- Write maintainable modern PHP (types, exceptions, namespaces) suitable for team backends
- Apply object-oriented design and dependency injection to keep domain logic testable
- Structure a Laravel 13 application with clear HTTP, domain, and persistence boundaries
- Design HTTP routes and thin controllers with Form Request validation and consistent JSON errors
- Model relational data with migrations, Eloquent relationships, constraints, and N+1-aware queries
- Build authenticated JSON APIs with authorization policies, API Resources, pagination, and idempotency awareness
Prerequisites
- Basic programming knowledge (variables, functions, control flow)
- Comfort using a terminal and installing tools with guidance
- Willingness to run Composer, Artisan, and a local database (SQLite is fine to start)
- Basic Git familiarity (commit, branch) — Software Engineering Foundations helps
- Prior Laravel or advanced OOP experience is not required
- Optional: free Africoders PHP/Laravel discovery videos as warm-up
Prerequisites
- Basic programming knowledge (variables, functions, control flow)
- Comfort using a terminal and installing tools with guidance
- Willingness to run Composer, Artisan, and a local database (SQLite is fine to start)
- Basic Git familiarity (commit, branch) — Software Engineering Foundations helps
- Prior Laravel or advanced OOP experience is not required
- Optional: free Africoders PHP/Laravel discovery videos as warm-up
What you will build and prove
- Project: Backend Capstone: Marketplace Orders API
- Final assessment: Backend Laravel checkpoint quiz (pass 70%)
Course journey
How this free course is structured — watch, practise, and progress module by module.
- Modern PHP and Backend Engineering
- Object-Oriented PHP
- Laravel Application Fundamentals
- HTTP, Routing and Controllers
- Validation, Forms and Application Boundaries
- Databases, Eloquent and Migrations
- Authentication, Authorization and API Design
- Laravel Services, Events and Background Jobs
- Testing Laravel Applications
- Security, Caching and Performance
- Production Engineering and Operations
- Backend Capstone
Assessment
- Backend Laravel checkpoint quiz · pass mark 70%
Prove
Course completion means finishing required lessons , required assignments , the course project , and the course assessment . That grants a certificate of completion — not a professional certification.
Curriculum
Week 1: Modern PHP and Backend Engineering
- Backend engineering vs scripts Preview 28min
- Modern PHP language essentials 32min
- Composer, tooling, and package discipline 30min
Week 2: Object-Oriented PHP
- Classes, interfaces, and composition 30min
- SOLID in practical backend code 32min
- Dependency injection without framework magic 30min
Week 3: Laravel Application Fundamentals
- Laravel 13 application structure and lifecycle 32min
- Service container and configuration 30min
- Artisan workflows that scale with a team 28min
Week 4: HTTP, Routing and Controllers
- Route design for APIs and web entry points 30min
- Controllers that stay thin 30min
- Middleware as policy checkpoints 28min
Week 5: Validation, Forms and Application Boundaries
- Form requests and validation rules 30min
- Mapping HTTP input to domain commands 30min
- Consistent error responses and status codes 28min
Week 6: Databases, Eloquent and Migrations
- Relational modelling for Laravel apps 32min
- Eloquent relationships and query discipline 32min
- Migrations, factories, seeders, and N+1 prevention 32min
Week 7: Authentication, Authorization and API Design
- Authentication sessions vs API tokens 32min
- Authorization with gates and policies 34min
- API Resources, versioning, pagination, and idempotency 34min
Week 8: Laravel Services, Events and Background Jobs
- When requests should not wait 30min
- Jobs, retries, and failed job handling 32min
- Events, listeners, and side-effect boundaries 30min
Week 9: Testing Laravel Applications
- Feature tests for HTTP and database behaviour 32min
- Factories, fakes, and authenticating in tests 30min
- Testing authorization and failure paths 32min
Week 10: Security, Caching and Performance
- Backend threat model for Laravel APIs 34min
- Caching strategies and invalidation 30min
- Query performance, indexes, and payload discipline 32min
Week 11: Production Engineering and Operations
- Environments, secrets, and config caching 30min
- Workers, queues, and migrations in production 32min
- Logging, health checks, rollback, and incidents 32min
Week 12: Backend Capstone
- Capstone brief and acceptance criteria 32min
- Implement the Marketplace Orders API 36min
- Demo, debugging evidence, and runbook 30min
Free to enroll — no purchase required.
Instructor: Africoders
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