tl;dr -
If you’re like me you’re a big fan of the Laravel PHP framework. Coming from a Javascript background I found PHP pretty easy to learn as the syntax was similar. Having a full featured framework with a database connection, ORM and authentication out of the box was something I really appreciated when I began developing applications with Laravel about four years ago. Another important point for me was the Laravel community. I learned jQuery from Jeffrey Way back in 2012 and knew that he was a very smart developer and great teacher. He built and maintains Laracasts, a site completely dedicated to supporting the community and teaching people how to build things with Laravel and Javascript. Since beginning programming in Laravel I’ve enjoyed how productive I can be with the Laravel framework and how inspiring the community is. It’s a high quality, open source tool actively being worked on and improved every day. The way I describe Laravel to the uninitiated is like Ruby On Rails but for PHP. With Laravel I feel like I can focus more on building products instead of choosing between frameworks, implementations and tools. Laravel has helped me personally become a more productive developer and enjoy the ride :)
Who hires Laravel developers?
One conundrum that I’ve discovered on my journey is that there seems to be a gap between the vibrant community of individual Laravel developers and startups and tech companies that use the framework. For developers this means that it can be hard to discern or find Laravel jobs or companies that use Laravel. When googling for companies that use Laravel the results include lots of spammy foreign companies and posts by third party recruitment agencies. There are definitely results but they can be hard to filter through.
On the employers side, finding Laravel developers to hire isn’t always easy. There are practically no coding bootcamps that teach PHP and Laravel. Freecodecamp doesn’t teach PHP or Laravel. College curriculums generally use Java, Python or Javascript instead of PHP. For these reasons many startups choose to build their products using Node.js, Ruby or Python instead of using Laravel and PHP. Knowing you’ll be able to find and hire developers to write the code is an extremely important consideration for companies when choosing a tech stack. A perceived lack of PHP and Laravel talent is one reason why employers shy away from using the framework.
The data isn’t always clean..
In this post I’d like to feature awesome startup and tech companies that use Laravel in production or are migrating their services to use Laravel in production. Often it can be hard to tell what software companies use to deliver their services. Some of the resources are flat out wrong or hard to access. For instance, Stackshare hides most of their data behind a paywall. The data that is accessible lists dozens of companies that have no Laravel jobs or blatantly run on other technologies unrelated to PHP. When searching for companies that use Laravel there are many companies that offer Laravel development as service that clog up the results. There are some really awesome US based Laravel development firms like Tighten and The Control Group that we’ve included in this list. For the most part though this post is about bringing attention to tech companies and startups that have built their technology using the Laravel PHP framework.
How was this data collected?
The list was collated through research and my own experience in industry working as a Laravel developer. I’m sure that I’ve missed many companies. If you are a US based startup or development agency that runs on Laravel or works with Laravel regularly and you’d like to be added to this list please email me: connor@employbl.com.
Who is this for?
We’re especially interested in highlighting US based businesses that employ and hire Laravel developers. Though it’s changing fast there are numerous hurdles to working for an employer in another country instead of a US based employer. This post is written for Laravel developers in the United States that are looking to work with Laravel in a professional capacity. It’s also meant for employers, tech companies and startups, so they can see how other companies are using the framework.
If you work at a company in the USA that uses Laravel in production and you're not on this list send me an email with your company's details. We will add you. connor@employbl.com