Top 12 LAMP Developer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In a crowded tech market, standing out as a LAMP developer means showing sharp, practical skills that ship reliable web apps. This guide zeroes in on the abilities employers expect today—clean development habits, secure deployments, performance-minded choices—so your resume reflects what you can actually deliver.

LAMP Developer Skills

1. PHP
2. MySQL
3. Apache
4. Linux
5. JavaScript
6. Laravel
7. HTML5
8. CSS3
9. jQuery
10. Git
11. RESTful APIs
12. SSL/TLS

1. PHP

PHP is the server-side backbone of the LAMP stack for building dynamic pages, APIs, and full web applications.

Why It's Important

It’s the P in LAMP. Most business logic, templating, and backend workflows in a classic LAMP app live in PHP, so fluency directly maps to speed, safety, and maintainability.

How to Improve PHP Skills

1. Adopt standards: Follow PSR-12 for style, PSR-4 for autoloading, and stick to consistent project structure.
2. Go deep on OOP and patterns: SOLID principles, dependency injection, and common design patterns pay off in testability and reuse.
3. Use modern PHP: PHP 8.x features—typed properties, union/intersection types, attributes, match, enums, readonly—make code clearer and safer.
4. Secure by default: Parameterized queries, output escaping, CSRF protection, password_hash/password_verify, strict types where possible.
5. Performance first: Enable OPcache, consider preloading, avoid unnecessary I/O, profile hot paths, and cache expensive work.
6. Composer everywhere: Manage dependencies cleanly, prefer vetted libraries, lock versions, audit regularly.
7. Test and debug: Unit and integration tests (PHPUnit), coverage targets, step debugging with Xdebug, snapshot logs for failures.
8. Static analysis: Run PHPStan or Psalm in CI to catch issues early and enforce stronger types.
9. Code quality gates: Linting, PHP_CodeSniffer, and pre-commit hooks to keep the main branch pristine.
10. Learn continuously: Read RFCs, upgrade guides, and release notes; practice by contributing to open source.

How to Display PHP Skills on Your Resume

2. MySQL

MySQL is a relational database used to store and query structured data. MariaDB is a common drop-in alternative; both power countless LAMP apps.

Why It's Important

Strong schema design and query fluency keep apps fast and predictable as data grows. Poor database choices ripple into outages and ballooning costs.

How to Improve MySQL Skills

1. Design the schema well: Choose correct data types, normalize where it helps, denormalize for read-heavy hotspots, and use utf8mb4.
2. Index with intent: Add covering and composite indexes for frequent queries; remove unused ones to speed up writes.
3. Interrogate queries: Use EXPLAIN, slow query logs, and profiling to cut full scans and fix N+1 patterns.
4. Write efficient SQL: Avoid SELECT *, limit result sets, paginate, and batch writes to reduce lock time.
5. Tune InnoDB: Right-size buffer pool, log file sizes, temp tables; match configs to workload and memory.
6. Cache smartly: Prefer application-level caching (e.g., Redis) over database query caching (removed in 8.0).
7. Use transactions wisely: Keep them short, pick the right isolation level, and handle deadlocks gracefully with retries.
8. Keep current: Target MySQL 8.x for window functions, CTEs, and better JSON support; plan rolling upgrades.
9. Scale with intent: Read replicas, connection pooling, and archiving old data keep production smooth.
10. Automate maintenance: Backups, checksum/restore drills, and tools like mysqltuner to spot configuration gaps.

How to Display MySQL Skills on Your Resume

3. Apache

Apache HTTP Server is the widely used web server that delivers your app’s responses to clients, a bedrock in many LAMP deployments.

Why It's Important

It’s the front door. Good configuration means better performance, safer defaults, and reliable uptime.

How to Improve Apache Skills

1. Pick the right MPM: Prefer the event MPM with PHP-FPM for efficient concurrency under load.
2. Turn on compression: Use gzip or Brotli to shrink responses and speed up delivery.
3. Leverage caching: Configure mod_cache for appropriate content and set Cache-Control and ETag headers carefully.
4. Tune connection reuse: Adjust KeepAlive, timeouts, and MaxRequestWorkers to match traffic patterns.
5. Set cache lifetimes: mod_expires and far-future headers for static assets reduce repeat requests.
6. Trim the fat: Disable unused modules to lower memory and start time.
7. Serve modern protocols: Enable HTTP/2; consider HTTP/3 via a proxy stack if needed.
8. Harden security: Keep Apache updated, add ModSecurity rules, and follow least-privilege for file and directory access.
9. Watch it live: mod_status and structured logs help you observe throughput, latency, and bottlenecks.
10. Offload static: A CDN for assets reduces origin load and improves global latency.

How to Display Apache Skills on Your Resume

4. Linux

Linux powers the servers behind most LAMP stacks, providing the operating system, tooling, and security layers your app depends on.

Why It's Important

A solid handle on Linux turns deployments from guesswork into routine. Stability, performance, and security start here.

How to Improve Linux Skills

1. Know the basics cold: Filesystem navigation, permissions, users/groups, and processes.
2. Service management: Use systemd (systemctl, journalctl) to run, monitor, and troubleshoot services.
3. Networking fluency: DNS, firewalls (ufw/firewalld/iptables), SSL termination, ports and sockets.
4. Shell automation: Bash scripting for backups, log rotation, deploy steps, and housekeeping.
5. Harden SSH: Key-based auth, disable root login, change defaults, and monitor auth logs.
6. Resource monitoring: top/htop, iostat, vmstat, free, sar; catch saturation before it bites.
7. Patching discipline: Regular updates with maintenance windows; unattended upgrades for security fixes.
8. Backups and recovery: Snapshot, test restores, and verify integrity; no backup until it’s restored.
9. Containers and orchestration: Use Docker/Podman and Compose for parity; consider IaC with Ansible for repeatable setups.
10. Least privilege: Tighten permissions, SELinux/AppArmor basics, and separate app users.

How to Display Linux Skills on Your Resume

5. JavaScript

JavaScript brings interactivity to the browser and complements your server-side PHP with rich, responsive interfaces.

Why It's Important

Snappy front-ends reduce server round trips, improve UX, and make your LAMP app feel alive.

How to Improve JavaScript Skills

1. Embrace modern JS: ES6+ syntax, modules, destructuring, async/await—cleaner code with fewer footguns.
2. Understand the runtime: Event loop, microtasks, timers, and the call stack to avoid jank.
3. Organize code: Module boundaries, dependency graphs, and simple build tooling (Vite or native ESM) when needed.
4. Async mastery: Promises, fetch, and workers for heavy tasks; debounce and throttle in the right spots.
5. DOM performance: Minimize reflows, batch reads/writes, and prefer delegation for events.
6. Testing: Unit and e2e tests; cover critical flows and edge cases.
7. Lint and format: ESLint and Prettier to keep a consistent, readable codebase.
8. Framework awareness: React, Vue, or lighter options like Alpine—choose based on project size and team strength.
9. Accessibility: Keyboard navigation, ARIA where needed, and focus management from the start.
10. Stay lean: Ship less JS when possible; progressive enhancement beats bloat.

How to Display JavaScript Skills on Your Resume

6. Laravel

Laravel is a modern PHP framework with expressive syntax, batteries-included tooling, and strong conventions for building robust web apps.

Why It's Important

It speeds delivery. Routing, ORM, queues, mail, caching, and auth are all there, wired together cleanly, and ready for production.

How to Improve Laravel Skills

1. Follow conventions: Resource controllers, form requests, API resources, and service containers keep code tidy.
2. Eloquent proficiency: Relationships, eager loading to kill N+1, scopes, and efficient chunking for large datasets.
3. Lean and fast: Route/config caching, optimized autoload, query tuning, and queues for background work.
4. Security first: CSRF, validation, output escaping, signed URLs, and rate limiting baked in.
5. Testing mindset: Feature and unit tests with factories and seeders; use database transactions for speed.
6. CLI power: Artisan generators, tinker, and task scheduling to automate the boring parts.
7. Async and queues: Jobs, events, notifications; monitor with Horizon when scaling workers.
8. Auth choices: Sanctum or Passport for tokens; policies and gates for fine-grained authorization.
9. Environment discipline: Per-environment config, .env hygiene, and secrets management.
10. Keep current: Track LTS versions and upgrade guides to stay secure and compatible.

How to Display Laravel Skills on Your Resume

7. HTML5

HTML5 structures content and provides native capabilities—media, graphics, forms—that modern web apps lean on.

Why It's Important

Semantic markup, accessible structure, and built-in features reduce script weight and improve SEO, usability, and maintainability.

How to Improve HTML5 Skills

1. Use semantics: header, nav, main, section, article, aside, footer—clarity for both humans and machines.
2. Modern forms: Native validation, input types, constraints, and accessible labels for a11y and speed.
3. Responsive from the start: Meta viewport, flexible layouts, and fluid media.
4. Media and graphics: video/audio, canvas, and SVG; picture and srcset for responsive images, lazy loading to save bandwidth.
5. Accessibility: Logical headings, landmarks, alt text, and ARIA only where necessary.
6. Performance: Defer noncritical scripts, preconnect/preload wisely, and keep DOM size in check.
7. Progressive enhancement: Baseline experience that improves when capabilities exist—no blank pages without JS.

How to Display HTML5 Skills on Your Resume

8. CSS3

CSS3 handles presentation: layout, spacing, color, motion, and responsiveness across devices.

Why It's Important

Good CSS makes interfaces feel effortless. Bad CSS snowballs into regressions and brittle layouts.

How to Improve CSS3 Skills

1. Modern layout: Flexbox and Grid for predictable, responsive layouts with fewer hacks.
2. Design systems: CSS variables, tokens, and a consistent spacing/typography scale to keep UIs cohesive.
3. Container queries: Style components based on their container, not just the viewport.
4. Logical properties: Writing-mode friendly properties (margin-inline, padding-block) for global-ready UIs.
5. Animations thoughtfully: Transitions and keyframes—prefer transform/opacity for silky 60fps.
6. Methodology: BEM or utility-first approaches to reduce specificity wars and cascade surprises.
7. Tooling: Pre/PostCSS, autoprefixing, and purge/minification in the build pipeline.
8. Accessibility and theming: Contrast checks, focus states, prefers-color-scheme and reduced-motion support.

How to Display CSS3 Skills on Your Resume

9. jQuery

jQuery is a JavaScript library that smooths DOM manipulation, events, animations, and Ajax—still common in legacy and CMS-heavy ecosystems.

Why It's Important

Many production apps and plugins rely on it. Knowing jQuery keeps you productive in existing stacks and helps you migrate safely when the time comes.

How to Improve jQuery Skills

1. Selectors and traversal: Master efficient selectors and chained operations to minimize DOM hits.
2. Event delegation: Bind high in the tree for dynamic content without rebinding chaos.
3. Ajax patterns: Centralize error handling, timeouts, and retries; keep UI state consistent.
4. Performance hygiene: Cache selections, avoid layout thrashing, batch DOM updates.
5. Plugin discipline: Evaluate size and quality, avoid conflicts, and isolate scope with IIFEs/namespaces.
6. Migration mindset: When feasible, replace jQuery bits with modern DOM APIs to reduce weight.

How to Display jQuery Skills on Your Resume

10. Git

Git is distributed version control for tracking changes, collaborating, and shipping with confidence.

Why It's Important

It’s the spine of modern development workflows—branching, reviewing, reverting, and releasing without drama.

How to Improve Git Skills

1. Branching strategy: Trunk-based or Git Flow—choose one, document it, and enforce it with protected branches.
2. Commit craft: Small, focused commits with clear messages; link issues and reference scope.
3. Interactive rebase: Clean history by squashing, rewording, and reordering before merging.
4. Hooks for guardrails: Pre-commit lint/tests and pre-push checks to keep the main branch green.
5. Stash and cherry-pick: Park WIP quickly and move fixes across branches without merging noise.
6. Bisect for bugs: Binary search regressions to pinpoint the offending change fast.
7. .gitignore discipline: Keep repos clean—no secrets, no build artifacts.
8. Aliases and config: Shortcuts for common commands; rerere to ease conflict resolution.
9. CI integration: Tie branches to pipelines, tests, and deploys; block merges on failing checks.
10. Signed commits: Use GPG/SSH signing for traceability on critical repos.

How to Display Git Skills on Your Resume

11. RESTful APIs

RESTful APIs expose resources over HTTP with predictable methods and representations, making services easy to consume and scale.

Why It's Important

They decouple front-ends from back-ends, integrate with third parties, and open doors to mobile apps and microservices without rewriting your core.

How to Improve RESTful APIs Skills

1. Get methods right: GET retrieve, POST create, PUT/PATCH update, DELETE remove—idempotency matters.
2. Status codes and verbs: Communicate outcomes precisely; don’t hide errors behind 200s.
3. Consistent design: Resource-oriented URLs, plural nouns, predictable pagination, filtering, and sorting.
4. Error contracts: Standard error schema with codes, messages, and correlation IDs.
5. Versioning: Prefix routes or use headers to avoid breaking existing clients.
6. Security: TLS everywhere, token-based auth (JWT or opaque), input validation, and rate limiting.
7. Caching: ETags, Last-Modified, Cache-Control; cache-safe endpoints for hot resources.
8. Performance: N+1 avoidance, selective fields, gzip/Brotli, and pagination tuned to use cases.
9. Documentation: OpenAPI specs, examples, and runnable collections so consumers onboard fast.
10. Observability: Metrics, tracing, and structured logs to diagnose latency and errors.

How to Display RESTful APIs Skills on Your Resume

12. SSL/TLS

TLS (the modern successor to SSL) encrypts traffic between browsers and servers, protecting confidentiality and integrity end to end.

Why It's Important

Without it, credentials, cookies, and private data are exposed. With it, users trust your app and you meet security and compliance expectations.

How to Improve SSL/TLS Skills

1. Prefer modern protocols: Enable TLS 1.2+ with TLS 1.3 prioritized; disable SSL, TLS 1.0, and 1.1.
2. Strong ciphers and PFS: Choose secure cipher suites with forward secrecy and enforce server cipher order.
3. Automate certificates: Use ACME clients (e.g., Certbot) for issuance and renewal; monitor expirations.
4. HTTP/2 and beyond: Turn on HTTP/2 via ALPN; evaluate HTTP/3/QUIC via a reverse proxy if needed.
5. HSTS and redirects: Force HTTPS with HSTS and redirect all HTTP traffic; preload if appropriate.
6. OCSP stapling: Staple revocation status to speed up and harden the handshake.
7. Secure cookies and headers: Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite for cookies; add security headers like CSP and X-Content-Type-Options.
8. Regular audits: Periodically scan your endpoints, review configs after upgrades, and keep OpenSSL/Apache current.

How to Display SSL/TLS Skills on Your Resume