Top 12 PHP Web Developer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the fast-shifting world of web development, strong PHP chops can lift your portfolio and your prospects. Hiring managers scan fast. Clear, sharp skills stand out. Put the right ones forward and you tilt the odds in your favor.

PHP Web Developer Skills

1. PHP
2. Laravel
3. Symfony
4. MySQL
5. JavaScript
6. JQuery
7. HTML5
8. CSS3
9. Git
10. RESTful APIs
11. Composer
12. Docker

1. PHP

PHP is a server-side scripting language built for the web. It powers dynamic pages, APIs, and whole applications. Ubiquitous. Battle-tested. Still very much alive.

Why It's Important

It plugs neatly into databases, runs on almost any host, and offers a deep ecosystem of packages and frameworks. With modern 8.x features—attributes, enums, union and intersection types, readonly properties—PHP is cleaner, faster, and safer than older eras.

How to Improve PHP Skills

Level up deliberately. Small loops of learning and building pay off.

1. Stay current: Track active, security-supported PHP versions and new 8.x language features.
2. Nail the foundations: Types, arrays, OOP, error handling, exceptions. The official manual remains gold.
3. Adopt a framework: Laravel or Symfony sharpen structure, patterns, and speed of delivery.
4. Follow standards: PSR coding standards and autoloading keep code coherent across teams.
5. Test and debug: Get comfortable with Xdebug, PHPUnit, and coverage. Ship with confidence.
6. Security first: Escape output, parameterize queries, handle sessions and CSRF correctly. Lean on OWASP guidance.
7. Performance: Profile, cache, reduce I/O, and embrace opcache. Measure before tweaking.
8. Version control: Use Git branches, meaningful commits, and pull requests as a daily rhythm.
9. Contribute: Read source, fix issues, open PRs. Real codebases teach hard truths.
10. Keep learning: Blogs, changelogs, community talks. Short, regular practice beats marathons.

How to Display PHP Skills on Your Resume

2. Laravel

Laravel is a modern PHP framework following MVC. It streamlines routing, queues, events, auth, cache, and database work with Eloquent—while keeping code expressive.

Why It's Important

You move faster with conventions that make sense. Built-ins cover 80% of the grind. The ecosystem—queues, Horizon, Scout, Cashier, and more—amplifies teams.

How to Improve Laravel Skills

1. Master the core: Routing, middleware, controllers, requests, responses, service container, and events.
2. Lean into the ecosystem: Forge or Vapor for deployment, Nova or Filament for admin, Scout for search, Cashier for billing.
3. Structure well: Form requests, resources, policies, repositories (when warranted), and feature tests.
4. Testing habit: PHPUnit and Pest for unit/feature tests; Dusk or Playwright for browser flows.
5. Performance: Cache aggressively, eager-load relationships, queue slow jobs, optimize config/routes/views.
6. Security: CSRF, encryption, password hashing, authorization gates/policies, rate limiting.
7. Stay updated: Track release notes and upgrades; keep apps current to avoid painful jumps.
8. Build real things: APIs, multi-tenant dashboards, background workers, websockets with Echo.

Current releases arrive annually; upgrading regularly keeps technical debt tame and features within reach.

How to Display Laravel Skills on Your Resume

3. Symfony

Symfony is a modular PHP framework built around reusable components. You can craft full applications or cherry-pick components for any stack.

Why It's Important

Robust architecture, long-term support options, and a rich set of mature components. Clean boundaries. Predictable releases. Enterprise-friendly.

How to Improve Symfony Skills

1. Start with the docs: Configuration, services, events, and the HttpKernel. Learn the request lifecycle.
2. Use components: Console, Messenger, Validator, Serializer—drop them into non-Symfony projects too.
3. Bundle your domain: Feature-first structure, autowiring, and environment-specific config.
4. Testing: Kernel test cases, Panther for browser tests, and contract tests for APIs.
5. Performance ops: Cache pools, Messenger queues, Doctrine tuning, and profiling with the Web Profiler.
6. Community: Explore real apps, read PRs, and contribute small fixes to learn idioms.

How to Display Symfony Skills on Your Resume

4. MySQL

MySQL is a relational database used widely alongside PHP. SQL for querying, InnoDB for transactions and reliability, replication for scale and resilience.

Why It's Important

It stores the truth your app depends on. Stable, performant, and well-understood. Managed offerings abound, from shared hosts to cloud providers.

How to Improve MySQL Skills

1. Optimize queries: Use EXPLAIN, watch for full scans, avoid N+1 patterns, and return only what you need.
2. Index wisely: Composite indexes matching your access patterns; prune unused ones to keep writes quick.
3. Data design: Normalize to reduce duplication; denormalize selectively for read-heavy paths.
4. Tune the server: Right-size innodb_buffer_pool_size, log file sizes, and connection limits for your workload.
5. Cache outside MySQL: The old query cache is gone in 8.0—use Redis/Memcached at the application layer.
6. Partition and archive: Split very large tables; move cold data out of the hot path.
7. Stay modern: Prefer MySQL 8.0+; the 8.4 LTS track brings longevity and improvements.
8. Backups and recovery: Test restores, not just backups. Point-in-time recovery beats sleepless nights.

How to Display MySQL Skills on Your Resume

5. JavaScript

JavaScript runs in the browser and on servers. It powers interactivity, real-time updates, and smooth interfaces—pairing with PHP backends to complete the loop.

Why It's Important

Client-side code shapes user experience. Without it, pages feel static and slow. With it, forms validate, dashboards hum, and users stay engaged.

How to Improve JavaScript Skills

1. Core language: Scope, closures, prototypes, promises, async/await, and modules. Know them deeply.
2. Modern syntax: ES6+ features clean up code and reduce boilerplate.
3. DOM mastery: Query, mutate, and handle events efficiently. Avoid layout thrashing.
4. Projects: Build tiny tools, then bigger ones. To-do apps, live search, drag-and-drop boards.
5. A framework: Learn React, Vue, or Angular—enough to ship production features.
6. Tooling: DevTools for debugging and profiling; linting and formatting for consistency; Git for everything.
7. Type safety: Consider TypeScript for complex front-ends and shared contracts with PHP APIs.
8. Read code: Explore open projects, refactor small pieces, and absorb patterns.

How to Display JavaScript Skills on Your Resume

6. JQuery

jQuery is a compact JavaScript library that simplifies DOM selection, events, Ajax, and quick UI touches. These days it’s often legacy or niche—but still present across countless codebases.

Why It's Important

When you inherit older applications or need lightweight DOM helpers without a full framework, jQuery can get things done quickly and consistently across browsers.

How to Improve JQuery Skills

1. Selectors and traversal: Write precise selectors and minimize DOM walks.
2. Chaining and batching: Chain methods to reduce reflows and repaint costs.
3. Events: Delegate wisely for dynamic content; unbind to prevent leaks.
4. UI building: Use small, reusable widgets or lean on jQuery UI if a project already depends on it.
5. Performance: Cache selections, avoid repeated lookups, and measure.
6. Know when not to use it: Prefer modern vanilla JS features when they’re cleaner or faster.

How to Display JQuery Skills on Your Resume

7. HTML5

HTML5 structures content and introduces native media, graphics, and semantic elements. It’s the skeleton your CSS and JavaScript flesh out.

Why It's Important

Better semantics mean better accessibility, SEO, and maintainability. Native inputs and media reduce reliance on heavy scripts.

How to Improve HTML5 Skills

1. Semantic layout: Use header, nav, main, section, article, aside, and footer meaningfully.
2. Forms that help: Native input types (email, date, number), constraints, and validation attributes.
3. Responsive images: picture, srcset, and sizes to deliver crisp images without wasting bytes.
4. Storage APIs: Local/session storage and IndexedDB for client-side data needs.
5. Media: video and audio with captions, fallbacks, and accessible controls.
6. Accessibility: Landmarks, labels, ARIA when necessary, and keyboard navigation support.

How to Display HTML5 Skills on Your Resume

8. CSS3

CSS3 styles the web—layouts, animations, responsive behavior. It shapes how users feel your product, not just how it looks.

Why It's Important

Good CSS boosts usability, speed, and brand consistency. Great CSS melts into the experience and feels obvious.

How to Improve CSS3 Skills

1. Layout power: Flexbox and Grid for robust, fluid layouts with fewer hacks.
2. Custom properties: CSS variables enable themes and reduce repetition.
3. Responsive design: Media queries, container queries, and fluid typography.
4. Motion with purpose: Transitions and keyframe animations that guide, not distract.
5. Preprocessors: Sass or Less for structure, mixins, and partials when projects grow.
6. Performance: Prune unused CSS, reduce specificity wars, and avoid heavy paint triggers.
7. DevTools fluency: Inspect, tweak live, audit layout shifts, and spot bottlenecks.
8. Practice: Rebuild small interfaces; copy then improve. Muscle memory matters.

How to Display CSS3 Skills on Your Resume

9. Git

Git tracks changes, branches experiments, and stitches work together across teams. It’s the foundation of modern collaboration.

Why It's Important

You get history, safety nets, and a clean path to review and deploy. Hard problems become manageable with the right workflow.

How to Improve Git Skills

1. Branching models: Git Flow, trunk-based, or GitHub Flow—choose and stick to a clear strategy.
2. Clean commits: Small, focused commits with clear messages. Future-you will thank you.
3. Rebasing when appropriate: Keep histories linear and conflict-light; know when to merge instead.
4. Interactive rebase: Squash, edit, and reorder to present a tidy story before opening a PR.
5. .gitignore mastery: Keep vendors, builds, secrets, and clutter out of the repo.
6. Hooks and automation: Pre-commit linting/tests; pre-push checks to catch mistakes early.
7. Stash and worktrees: Switch tasks quickly without losing context.
8. CI/CD integration: Tests on every push, builds on main, deployments on tags.
9. Code reviews: Clear diffs, constructive feedback, and enforced checks raise quality.

How to Display Git Skills on Your Resume

10. RESTful APIs

RESTful APIs expose resources over HTTP using standard methods—GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE. Clean URLs, stateless requests, cache-aware responses.

Why It's Important

They connect front ends, services, and third parties. Predictable contracts reduce friction and speed up integration.

How to Improve RESTful APIs Skills

1. HTTP done right: Use the correct methods and status codes; embrace conditional requests and caching headers.
2. Versioning: Plan for change—URL or header-based versions to avoid breaking clients.
3. Security: OAuth2 or token-based auth, HTTPS everywhere, input validation, and output encoding.
4. Pagination and filtering: Consistent parameters, cursors for large datasets, and clear limits.
5. Rate limiting: Throttle by client; return headers to signal quotas and resets.
6. Errors with clarity: Structured error bodies with codes, messages, and hints.
7. Documentation: Describe with OpenAPI/Swagger; generate examples and SDKs when possible.
8. Testing: Contract tests, load tests, and backward-compatibility checks in CI.

How to Display RESTful APIs Skills on Your Resume

11. Composer

Composer manages PHP dependencies and autoloading. It pulls libraries, locks versions, and keeps your codebase modular.

Why It's Important

Faster onboarding, fewer “works on my machine” surprises, and reproducible builds. Composer 2 is quick and resource-efficient.

How to Improve Composer Skills

1. Command fluency: require, update, install, outdated, why, why-not—know the toolkit.
2. Autoloading: PSR-4 namespaces, classmaps for legacy, and optimized dumps for production.
3. Lockfile discipline: Commit composer.lock for apps; keep dependencies predictable across environments.
4. Constraint hygiene: Use sensible semantic version ranges; avoid drifting into breaking changes.
5. Private packages: Host internal packages and mirror registries for reliability.
6. Security: Audit dependencies and remove abandoned packages promptly.
7. Scripts: Automate build steps—cache clears, codegen, or static analysis—via Composer scripts.

How to Display Composer Skills on Your Resume

12. Docker

Docker packages apps and their dependencies into containers. For PHP, that means consistent environments from laptop to production, fewer surprises, and easier orchestration.

Why It's Important

Reproducibility. Isolation. Speed. Your stack (PHP-FPM, Nginx, MySQL, Redis, queues) spins up with a single command.

How to Improve Docker Skills

1. Lean images: Multi-stage builds and minimal bases (for example, php:8.3-fpm-alpine or newer) shrink sizes and speed deploys.
2. .dockerignore: Exclude vendors, node_modules, logs, and build artifacts to accelerate builds.
3. Compose wisely: Model services clearly; use named volumes and networks; keep env files tidy.
4. Healthchecks: Define checks so orchestrators restart unhealthy containers automatically.
5. Security: Run as non-root, pin image tags, scan for vulnerabilities, and limit capabilities.
6. Volumes for dev: Mount code for instant feedback; keep prod images immutable.
7. Config via env: Parameterize secrets and settings; avoid baking secrets into images.
8. CI/CD integration: Build, test, and push images in pipelines; sign and verify provenance.
9. Logs and metrics: Centralize logs; add traces and metrics to understand behavior in the wild.
10. Keep current: Update Docker Engine/Compose and base images to pick up fixes and performance gains.

How to Display Docker Skills on Your Resume