kerligamp's avatar

Seeking Advice: Starting a new job on a large PHP/Laravel project - Where to Begin?

I've landed a new job as a backend developer where I will be working on a large scale Laravel project and I'm looking for some advice on the best approach to understand the architecture, domain, and everything else that comes with it.

Here are a few questions on my mind:

How would you recommend approaching a large codebase to quickly grasp the project's structure?What steps do you usually take to comprehend the architecture of a PHP/Laravel project? How do you go about familiarizing yourself with the project's domain and business logic? Any general tips or experiences you can share to make the onboarding process smoother?

Thank you.

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jlrdw's avatar

A suggestion, I actually write out various things with paper and pencil. Try it works wonders.

But it always helps if you understand what you are doing without a computer.

For example a trucking company.

Could you do logistics like the old days before computers. Some basic bookkeeping skills is also good.

martinbean's avatar

@kerligamp There’s no one single answer to this, giving the “domain“ will be specific to the application and your company.

The best way to get familiar with a new codebase is to dive in. Whilst you can see the “how” reading code, it’s best to pair with something within the company who knows the company and the application, to also understand the “why”.

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