Some interviewing techniques can be pretty disrespectful of the applicant's time or humanity. On today's episode we talk about some ways of approaching an interview to put the person at ease and help them to do their best.

Show notes:

• 00:00 Our different work backgrounds
• 01:00 How to kick off a technical discussion in an interview
• 03:45 How to leverage their existing experience
• 04:50 Learn about their communication style
• 06:00 Figuring out how someone thinks about a problem
• 09:30 Don't code review actual company code
• 11:50 Silly bit

Maybe you're a solo dev or working on a small team. What benefits are there in widening your circle of developers? We talk through our own personal experiences in this episode.

Show notes:

• (00:00) - Topic intro: the benefits of working with someone else

We'll admit it: sometimes we change our mind. In this episode, we discuss how we used to setup queues in Laravel tests, and why we changed it.

Show Notes

• 00:00 Sometimes we change our mind over time
• 02:00 Changing queue from sync to null in tests
• 03:45 Feature versus integration tests
• 04:40 Where do you test job logic?
• 05:30 White box versus black box testing
• 07:15 Laravel queue drivers and how faking works
• 08:55 Why use events at all?
• 09:30 The new approach is faster too
• 11:15 Silly bit

Want to make us happy with a random email? Check out our free and paid books on masteringlaravel.io

Rules in programming can be extremely helpful, especially on a team. But is it possible to go too far with rules? We discuss a couple recent scenarios where we could have made a rule, but decided not to.

• 00:00 I like rules
• 01:20 Maybe going too far with rules - the scenario
• 03:05 Bug explanation
• 05:03 A tangent on test setup
• 06:30 A possible rule to prevent this bug
• 07:17 Why this rule went too far
• 08:50 We still want to fix it, just not now
• 09:45 Another example with syntax and code standards
• 12:53 Silly bit

Need help to set up or improve your team's coding standards?

Before you vent some frustration on another tool or programming community, take a deep breath and think about why you're irritated? We talk about our own reactions to some technologies and how it's good to keep an open mind or, at a minimum, to not be a jerk.

• 00:00 It's easy to hate on tools you don't use
• 01:02 Why are there different kinds of tools?
• 03:30 Is it "bad" because we don't understand it?
• 04:42 Learn from other communities
• 07:10 Don't be a jerk
• 07:55 Silly bit

Need some help with your Laravel application?

We have such a rich ecosystem of packages in the Laravel and PHP community. But can there be too much of a good thing? What do we consider before adding a small package to our projects?

• 00:00 A healthy ecosystem of packages
• 01:02 Too much of a good thing?
• 02:48 Risks to consider
• 04:13 Other ways to share
• 05:34 Think before you promote
• 08:02 Consider the friction
• 08:39 Silly bit

Would you like help auditing the packages in your Laravel application?

Laravel has a vibrant community of people teaching and sharing what they've learned. What makes a good tip? Should you tweet or blog or both?

• 00:00 Why blogging is beneficial
• 02:43 Slowing down before you publish
• 04:30 Tips that provide value
• 08:11 Platforms can go away
• 09:36 Silly bit

Check out the new articles section on masteringlaravel.io

New PHP version! New Laravel version! So exciting! But when does it make sense to upgrade, and when does it make sense to start using new language or framework features?

• PHP marches forward (00:00)
• Upgrade strategy depends on team size (01:20)
• Considerations for new language features (02:33)
• Performance gains (03:27)
• Readability (04:56)
• How to adopt new features (06:16)
• Depends on the project's maturity (08:14)
• Upgrading for security (09:30)
• Silly bit (11:17)

If you enjoy this podcast, we'd really appreciate help spreading the word. Share it with your fellow PHP and Laravel developers.

How can a bug be fun, and not frustrating? When you treat it like a puzzle. Let's walk through a recent bug with CSV mime type validation and go deep down the rabbit hole.

• Think of a bug like a fun code puzzle (00:00)
• Don't get stuck for too long (01:22)
• The confusing CSV bug (02:35)
• Diffing the files (06:05)
• Digging deeper into Symfony and PHP (08:07)
• Getting stubborn about fixing this (11:29)
• Silly bit (12:26)

Why would you validate your MIME types? Learn that and a whole lot more with our validation book: Mastering Laravel Validation Rules

User experience is a term we hear a lot as developers, but it can mean different things depending on the context. We discuss a recent project where decisions around which HTTP status code to return was focused on improving the user's experience and trust in the application.

• 00:16 Why do we write code?
• 01:39 The importance of user experience
• 02:54 A specific example of user-focused thinking
• 04:34 Choosing the most helpful HTTP status code
• 05:44 What if it’s an API response?
• 07:17 How much detail in an error is useful to a user?
• 08:35 Silly bit

Move from competent to confident - become a better Laravel developer with the free resources available at masteringlaravel.io