How I Became a Laravel Developer in Pakistan (Without a CS Degree)

#laravel #career #php #webdev

Hey everyone! So this is my first blog post on Dev.to. I thought, why not share my journey as a Laravel developer from Pakistan? Hopefully, it helps someone who's just starting out and feeling stuck like I once did.

The Beginning Wasn’t Fancy

I didn’t go to a big-name university or have a CS degree from some expensive place. In fact, I studied from home — self-taught mostly. I remember Googling “how to build a website” back in like 2014-15, and ended up making a HTML page with red text on black background

But yeah, that was the spark.

Discovering PHP (and falling into Laravel)
At first I hated PHP. Like… it just felt old. But later I realized it’s everywhere. From WordPress to huge ERPs.

Then I found Laravel and it honestly changed everything for me. It just clicked. Clean code, routes, migrations, artisan, Eloquent — it felt like magic (okay, sometimes frustrating magic, lol).

Building Real Projects
I didn’t wait for the “perfect course.” I started building:

Simple blog with Laravel 5.x

A todo app that literally no one used

Then eventually, real client work — small e-commerce, admin panels, CRMs.

Laravel taught me to think in terms of structure. I learned how to break problems into logic. And Google StackOverflow became my best friend

Mistakes? Oh man…
I’ve pushed bugs to production.
Forgot to use where() and deleted the whole table once.
Used inline CSS for months.
Even deployed without .env file

But hey, every mistake taught me something. That’s the real school.

Advice to Beginners in Pakistan (or anywhere)
Don’t wait for a full CS degree to start. Build now.

Google is your mentor. Ask it anything.

GitHub > Resume. Build things, put them online.

Freelance or help a local business — get real experience early.

Keep learning. Laravel keeps updating. Stay fresh.

Today
Now I’m a Full Stack Developer, focused on Laravel + JavaScript (bit of React too). Leading a team, mentoring juniors, and still breaking stuff

I’m currently working on a Laravel-based Inventory + POS system with advanced user roles, API integration, and real-time features.

If you're just starting: Don't give up. Your journey is valid, even if it's messy.

Let’s Connect!
I'm always happy to talk Laravel, freelance, or tech careers.

You can find me at:
email:shehroz9712@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/muhammadshehroz97/

Thanks for reading! Hit ❤️ if you are related. Drop your story in the comments, would love to read yours too.