DEV Community: Gabriella Guerra

Why Everyone Should Love Laravel (Like I Do)

Gabriella Guerra — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 17:51:14 +0000

I think it’s pretty obvious by now—I’m obsessed with Laravel. It was love at first sight, and honestly, that feeling has only deepened with time.

After years of writing code using plain old PHP and JavaScript without the help of any frameworks, I realized I needed to change things up. My workflow had started to feel stale, and JavaScript was becoming more of a headache than a joy. That’s when I began searching for PHP frameworks to make my life easier.

The first one I tried was CakePHP. To put it mildly... it didn’t click with me at all. The docs felt way too complicated, and I couldn’t connect with it. Looking back, I think my heart was already waiting for Laravel (sorry, Cake fans).

At that point, I was honestly starting to think frameworks weren’t for me. It felt like I would never figure this stuff out. Then, totally by chance, a Laravel tutorial showed up in my YouTube recommendations. I decided to give it a go—and wow, everything changed from that moment. It was, hands down, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

How Laravel Turned Things Around

Laravel doesn’t just make me feel like a developer anymore—it makes me feel like an artisan. There’s something about it that goes beyond just writing code. Taylor Otwell, the genius behind Laravel, created a framework that really speaks to developers. It’s like he understood exactly what we needed.

The more I dive into Laravel, the more I realize how much it empowers me to tackle new projects. I don’t get that feeling of “what if I get stuck?” anymore—because with Laravel, you’ve got everything you need at your fingertips.

Why Laravel Stands Out

Laravel is a perfect mix of simplicity and strength. It automates so many of those tedious, repetitive tasks, but still leaves you with full control over your code. The built-in features, like routing, Eloquent ORM, and Blade templating, make everything feel so much more seamless. It’s like Laravel is doing the heavy lifting for you, but in a way that doesn’t take away from the fun of coding.

And let me tell you about the documentation—it’s a game-changer. Everything is laid out in a way that’s easy to understand, which makes learning the framework feel smooth. Plus, the community is huge and super supportive, so you never feel like you’re alone in figuring things out.

PHP Doesn’t Suck—Laravel Proves It

For years, people have been hating on PHP, calling it outdated or clunky. I’ve heard it all. But Laravel? Laravel shows the world that PHP is anything but. Every new release is a reminder that PHP can not only keep up with modern development, but thrive in it.

So, if you haven’t checked out Laravel yet, what are you waiting for? Give it a try—you’ll quickly understand why so many developers, myself included, are head over heels for this framework. Laravel isn’t just a tool—it’s a way to fall in love with coding all over again.

Not Day One: Did I always suck that bad?

Gabriella Guerra — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 21:34:30 +0000

I was unbeliveably stupid back when I started.

This past few days, I decided that instead of going for new projects, maybe it was time for me to look at some old code of mine. Oh boy, how I regret that.

Back in 2020 I worked for a small company in my city as a web developer. At first, I was the only developer, so I did every step from planning to developing and managing, let's not forget I had just graduated from high school, and it was my very first job.

After I got laid off, in 2021, I decided to move on from programming since getting a new job in tech was (and still is) extremely difficult for me. Since then, I haven't touched VS Code until this year, when I went back to college and decided to get back to programming.

I thought it would be a great idea to redo the projects I did for that company, but I think I'll have nightmares for a while now. I know I'm no front-end developer and never claimed or wanted to be one, but this. This is horrendous.

Notice how the scrollbar still goes down? Yeah, I have no idea why, but I'm pretty sure it worked in the company's monitor. You think this is bad? Check the register page:

The logo is on top, but I had to crop it for you to see this monstrosity. Why the hell is it so narrow? We'll never know. I don't want to know, at least it still works.

I did get to refactor the back-end to upgrade from Laravel 8 to 11, and it works as expected, which is a win for me.

Even though I know I'm not a full-stack developer, I still feel the cringe from such bad design because this is what recruiters see first on a portfolio, right? Not only that, but I mean, how can I build a portfolio if it's gonna be this ugly?

I did look into some tools that could help me and for now my best option is to wait on Amigoscode Portfolly. Seems to be a great way to showcase my work directly from my repos instead of building it from scratch. If you have any tips for portfolio building, I would love to hear it.

As for new projects, I think I'm gonna stick to good old Bootstrap snippets and keep doing what I know: how to make it work.

Not Day One: Where do I start?

Gabriella Guerra — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 10:59:40 +0000

It's not like I have no clue of what I'm doing, but really, where do I start?

It feels weird to start from scratch, but maybe it means I get to teach my brain again how to study, and it gives me a new opportunity to see things with fresh eyes. Right?

Learning it's hard when you don't really have someone to guide you, and in programming specifically it can be tough to find good teachers. There are some YouTube channels I do recommend, as they've been very helpful, like Tech with Tim and Programming with Mosh, I'm a huge fan. Also, Fireship makes this short and quick videos with funny and ironic takes that brings programming closer to what our brains understand the most.

Another way to learn that I had no idea existed are roadmaps. Roadmaps give you a lot more structure to start, and one I specially like is Roadmap.sh. They have tons of roadmaps, both made by their team and community roadmaps. I'm currently using the one specifically for backend development, but you can also find DevOps, Databases, Frontend… They also have an AI tool to create your own roadmap with a little help.

Not only all that, recently Roadmap.sh came up with a new feature: Projects. They give you a lot of ideas for projects from beginner to advanced so that you can enhance your portfolio while you put to practice what you've been learning from the roadmaps. I personally love this tool, as I usually suck coming up with new ideas, and it really helps to have somewhere to start.

I really recommend this tools if you, like me, have just started to navigate through the developing sea. And if you have tips, I'm all ears! Let's make this a community where we all can learn together.

Restarting my journey: My path back to development

Gabriella Guerra — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 15:37:11 +0000

I first learned about programming when I found a Javascript course on Khan Academy, when I was only 11. Now, at 22, I feel so distant from coding it feels like I'm seeing it for the first time.

What happened is that after that first discovery I learned PHP during high school and fell in love with it, then at 18 I landed a job as a web developer, but it only lasted 11 months. After that I had to pay rent and there was no other way than to go to more common areas of work. Now, I'm a receptionist at a public hospital and I have to tell you, man I miss my development days. I even brought my own keyboard and mouse to code at work.

Ever since I decided to get back to programming, I can't stop feeling like a child again. It's like I'm suddenly stupid, things changed a lot, and I wasn't there to see it. I absolutely love web development, and so my new goal for the next 3 years is to get a job that truly fits me.

For starters, I went back to studying PHP since it is something I already knew, and it helped me get back on my feet in a way. I managed to complete an entire project with Laravel on my own, without any tutorials, and it got my confidence up again. Now my goal is to learn Python and its frameworks for Web.

I think this is my proudest moment of the year.

Also this, because it means I'm trying:

For now, all I have to say to myself is: This is not day one, but it most certainly feels like it.
Hopefully it'll get better as I go, but this is something I'll let you know in the future if you decide to accompany me on my journey back to development.