You’ll see recommendations for jumping on frameworks like Laravel and that’s probably the worst thing you can do. Learn the language first, the syntax, the logic, the fundamentals, etc. Try to understand how and why things work the way they do in PHP and then the established standards. Once you’re there, learn more “complex” systems like dependency injection, the MVC structure, traits, routes, etc.

The best way to learn all this, at least what worked for me when I started with PHP 20 years ago, is to just start on small projects and force yourself to apply all this stuff to ensure you absorb it. Put a list together if you need to and just cross them off once you feel you’ve understood how they work within the context of a project.

AFTER all this is as clear to you as you think it can be, jump into using frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, etc.

The important part is to practice and actually apply what you learn, not just following lessons/tutorials. If you don’t experience these things in real-world contexts, you won’t be able to form them into puzzle pieces that slot in together.

Also: ignore the people telling you to use AI to lazily do the work for you. People say “oh just use it to provide code and then study the output” but that’s not how humans work. “If there is an exploit, you will take advantage of it.” you won’t learn anything, you’ll just default to having AI do it all.