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Hey everyone at Laracasts, and a special mention to @taylorotwell , @JeffreyWay for reasons that will become clear.
I wanted to share a personal story with the community, especially for the newcomers and aspiring freelancers. This is a detailed review of the unofficial Laravel certification program from certificationforlaravel.com, and a warning about the trap I almost fell into.
I started my journey with Laravel back in 2020. Like many, I was drawn in by the elegant syntax and amazing community here at Laracasts. My goal was always to build a freelance career instead of taking a traditional job.
To be successful, I knew I had to offer clients the best possible solutions. I spent a lot of time researching the top full-stack frameworks: Next.js, Spring, Django, you name it. For a while, I thought Next.js was the answer because of its incredible performance and SEO-friendliness.
But ultimately, I chose Laravel for its world-class developer experience. The learning curve was just so much better. The only drawback was its lack of native SPA features... until that problem was brilliantly solved.
With the incredible work from people in this community, like @reinink's Inertia.js, I believe we now have access to one of the most powerful and productive stacks on the market, perfect for the small-to-mid-level projects that are the bread and butter of freelancing.
I was confident in my skills and ready to build a portfolio. But then came the marketing question: how do I stand out?
certificationforlaravel.com ScamI thought a certificate would be a good marketing tool. My search for an "official Laravel certification" led me to certificationforlaravel.com. The site looks professional, clean, and completely legitimate. I was ready to buy.
But before I entered my credit card details, something told me to do one last Google search. I was shocked to find a tweet from @taylorotwell himself, stating that there is NO official Laravel certification program.
The tweet - https://x.com/taylorotwell/status/1610661365110247425
This was the red flag that saved me.
I dug deeper and found their exam structure, which confirmed my fears:
Student Developer ExamJunior Developer ExamSenior Developer ExamUpgrade Senior Laravel Developer ExamYou cannot just enroll in the Senior exam, even if you have years of experience. You have to pay for and pass the Junior level first. It's a classic funnel designed to extract the maximum amount of money.
In my opinion, this makes the certificationforlaravel.com program a scam. It's a business model built on looking official to trick developers into a costly, multi-step process for a worthless piece of paper. A huge thank you to @taylorotwell for being public about this and saving me my time and money.
I'm posting this so that the next developer who searches for a "Laravel certification review" finds a real story from the community. A portfolio with one or two complex projects is worth a thousand of these unofficial certificates.
To the senior developers, moderators, and long-time members of Laracasts: I encourage you to help make this issue more visible. An article, a guide, or even just more forum posts on this topic could save countless new developers from wasting their money. Let's work together to ensure our community is a place where genuine skill is valued over misleading credentials.
Thanks for reading. aGreenCoder :)
Mention Leaders WIth Respect @Snapey @tykus @Sinnbeck @bobbybouwmann @martinbean @MichalOravec @jlrdw @Nakov @tisuchi @Tray2
@agreencoder If it’s not official, then it‘s a scam. I’ve also worked with Laravel for over a decade, and not once have I been asked if I hold any sort of certification in the framework. So any certificate isn’t worth a penny; no matter what their marketing home pages tell you.
@martinbean I absolutely agree with your perspective. For an experienced developer or a technical hiring manager, a portfolio of work is what truly matters.
The challenge, as I see it, is that developers—especially newcomers—feel they need a marketing tool for non-technical people, like some clients or HR departments. They see a certificate as a simple "proof of capability."
Your point made me think of it like the testimonials on the official Laravel site. Laravel doesn't need a review from Adam Wathan to be a great framework, but that review acts as a marketing signal to help new developers trust it. I initially viewed a certificate in that same light.
My primary intention with this post is to warn developers away from this specific program. The most dangerous part, which I've learned, is that certificationforlaravel.com was previously connected with Laravel officially, but is not anymore. This makes it incredibly easy for new developers to be tricked. With the site getting over 10,000 visits a year, I just want to make sure the community is aware of the trap.
Hello @agreencoder,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Certification for Laravel program. I appreciate the opportunity to address these points and provide clarity for the community and correct some of your comments.
Firstly, this is not a scam, you should be really careful using those words as it is misleading and damaging to the part of the community that does value certification. But maybe it is all based on a misunderstanding from your side? Let me explain.
The certification for Laravel program (since the restart in August 2024), has always been a third-party initiative designed to support developers in benchmarking their skills. We have always been transparent about not being officially endorsed by Laravel LLC, it is mentioned prominently on our website and on every social media channel. Our goal is to provide a valuable tool for developers, especially newcomers, to demonstrate their capabilities in a competitive market.
Our program is community-driven we have over 120 community members from all over the world, who contribute questions for the various exams. We have a board of directors who oversee and help us build this community-driven certification program, including:
Robert Verboon - CEO of Goedemiddag! / Founder Dutch Laravel Foundation Shruti Balasa - Full Stack Web Developer & LinkedIn Tech Educator Vishal Rajpurohit - CTO of Viitorcloud / Organiser Laracon India Katerina Trajchevska - CEO of Adeva Andrew Ajoodha - CTO of Wirebox Gaga Darsalia - CEO & Founder of Redberry Kasper Hartwich - Founder Laravel Denmark / Organiser Laravel Live Denmark Daniel Newns - Co-founder & CTO of Jump24 Christian Koehler - Chief Operating Officer at byte5 Iztok Smolic - CEO and Co-founder of Agiledrop Lucas Giovanny - Tech Lead at Worksome Vladimir Nikolic - CEO of Coding Wisely
Our exam committee consists of senior developers from the community, such as:
Niek Keijzer - Laravel Developer at Goedemiddag! Ruchit Patel - Vittorcloud Reza Esmaili - CEO and Owner at zeit:raum Arlon Antonius - Paqt.com Yannick Kupferschmidt - Team Lead PHP at byte5 Muhammad Shehata - Senior Back-end Software Engineer at Foodics Giorgi Giunashvili - Software Engineer and Delivery Manager at Redberry, CTO of Skippit Christopher Miller - Full Stack Developer Puntapal Shah - Full Stack Developer, Open Source Contributor, Speaker Ashley Allen - Freelance Laravel Web Developer / Author
All these community members contribute their time and resources without any compensation, as they believe in a community-driven approach to certification. Their dedication ensures the quality and integrity of our exams. In the spirit of Laravel as an open source platform.
Regarding the exam structure, our intention is to ensure that each certification level accurately reflects a developer's proficiency. This structure is not meant to extract money but to maintain the integrity and value of the certification. Developers can start at any level they want, skipping levels if they feel they can.
We acknowledge that certifications are not the only way to demonstrate skill, and we encourage developers to build robust portfolios. However, for some, certifications can serve as a useful marketing tool, especially when dealing with non-technical clients or HR departments.
Again, we are not is a scam. The fact that products or services are not Official does not make them a scam, Laracasts is officially endorsed, but LaravelDaily, CodeCourse and many other e-learning platforms are not, are they also scammers?
We are committed to improving our program and addressing any misconceptions. We welcome feedback from the community and are open to making adjustments that enhance the program's value and transparency.
We invite you and other community members to engage with us and contribute to the program to support the Laravel community and provide resources that genuinely benefit developers.
Thank you for your time and feel free to contact me directly.
Jasper Willems Certification for Laravel
Hello Jasper,
Yes it is purely "SCAM"
Thank you for your detailed response and for clarifying your position. I appreciate you taking the time to address my concerns.
However, I'd like to press on one specific point, as it directly relates to what I perceive as a core issue: the exam structure and accessibility.
You stated, "Developers can start at any level they want, skipping levels if they feel they can." Could you please clarify this with a concrete example?
If a developer possesses extensive Laravel knowledge and believes they can pass the "Senior Developer Exam" or even the "Upgrade Senior Laravel Developer Exam," can they directly enroll in either of these exams without first purchasing and passing the "Student Developer Exam" (at $89) and then the "Junior Developer Exam" (at $199)?
My understanding, based on the information I gathered (and what I saw implied by the tiered structure), is that a developer must progress through the levels sequentially, paying for and passing each prerequisite exam. If this is the case, and a developer with senior-level knowledge cannot directly enroll in the Senior exam without first paying for and taking the Junior exam, then your statement about "skipping levels" appears to be misleading.
Furthermore, if a user attempts to enroll directly in a higher-level exam and pays the fee, but your system then requires a previous certification (which they wouldn't have if they were skipping levels), how is that not a "trap"? This crucial information about prerequisite certifications is not clearly mentioned on your site for direct enrollment, which can lead to users paying for an exam they cannot even take.
In my view, true transparency would mean clearly outlining any prerequisite certifications before the enrollment and payment process, and allowing direct enrollment into any exam level if a user meets the stated prerequisites (or has confidence in their ability to pass). If a "senior" exam truly tests senior knowledge, then passing it should be the sole criterion, not having paid for previous, lower-level certifications.
I believe this lack of direct access to higher-level exams, despite a developer's existing knowledge, and the unclear communication around prerequisites, is what makes the program feel less about "benchmarking skills" and more about a forced, costly progression.
& yes it is purely "SCAM" Thanks again for your time.
aGreenCoder
@JasperWillems Charging people to take exams, but not paying the people who help “write” the exams. How generous and “community-driven” of you!
@agreencoder, yes you can start at any level, no need to take student or junior before you take the senior exam, you can go straight for senior exam. So if you are a senior you do not have to take any level exam you can go straight to senior level. This also counts to Junior, no need to first do student, you can go straight to Junior.
I don't understand your comment about not being able to enroll without pre-requisites, all exams can be purchased independently without the need to proof of past exams.
The upgrade exam is for people that have done a certification exam in the past (laravel 4,5,6 etc.) and that want to upgrade their existing certification to Laravel 12 certification. If you do this you will never lose your old certification, it is just to showcase your knowledge of the current version of Laravel, you will then receive renewed credentials.
We also offer a free re-take, if you fail your exam, you can retake within 1 month free of charge. If you pass, you are certified for life.
@martinbean imagine how committed they are to contribute to a well functioning Certification Program. We do offer them a host of benefits they can choose from though.
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