How to properly prepare for the Junior PHP level?

Question

PHP

I set out to learn php to the Junior level in order to look for a job.

PS I do not want to breed holivar on the topic that php is not needed, but you need to learn something like ruby ​​/ python.

I leafed through the questions asked earlier, what to learn from and noticed this:
1) I came across that a lot of books are already old + a lot of people send for documentation (like get out and everything will be cool)
2) that in books no matter what year it is, the theory is laid out without practice (minimum practice + it is also more for theory and not for real combat missions).
I also sat down to study the market what they want for the position of Junior PHP developer:
1) Knowledge of php, JavaScript, MySQL
2) Understanding of OOP principles
3) knowledge of the framework (they are different depending on the company)
Here's what I want to ask:
Do you need to cram books or you can do as so I want-
I have several Internet stores made up (by me),
like this for example ( )
write an admin panel for them with an implementation (add a product, a basket, something like that, I don’t know yet what can be screwed there

PS tell me what can be done with an Internet store

) + I want to make a portfolio for myself also in php there with the addition of works and so on.
Actually, I will draw information on what and how to do from Google, documentation and other sources.

Answer 1

you won’t go far without a framework, now everyone is on them, look in the vacancies, which are popular (Symphony, AI, less often Laravel and very rarely Falcon) and make your own website on each. If you do it - you can call yourself a junior

Answer 2

You can think about the courses: along with the theory, tasks will also be considered. Here you need to approach responsibly, read reviews, because not all courses turn out to be useful in the end)
You were advised to immediately learn frameworks. I’m not sure that it’s necessary like this, in a pool with a head. I first mastered HTML + CSS, then JS, then php, then frameworks and CMS. To tell the truth, I'm a beginner myself, but I can state that learning Yii2/Symfony 2 without PHP is NOT the same as learning jQuery without JS (as many people who later call themselves jQuery programmers do), seriously.
If there is no way to go to courses, you can study it yourself, start with JS. You probably know the excellent site of Ilya Kantor, where everything is chewed up and with examples.
php will be MUCH easier to learn after that, in any case, theory. base. But, having studied it, you can move on to frameworks. CMSs are also popular, you can start with the most popular and simple - WordPress; do not forget to look and disassemble the core of the framework / CMS you are studying in order to understand how it all works there.

Answer 3

As mentioned above, you won’t get far without a framework. For the general, it will be enough to write blogs on Yii2 and Symfony 2 (Laravel is written on the core of Symfony, there is something similar). Use it when developing OOP (this is necessary not only for the employer, but also for you. Since your client will come in two years and ask for a feature, and you have a crutch on a crutch and the monster is not extensible in any way). And of course, read the documentation of what you are working on in English, and the fresher the better. In particular, the Best Practice columns will help a lot in the early stages. Books are useless, what was two years ago is no longer needed by anyone.
Implementation of your project, then test it to the fullest. At interviews, you will tell how and what you did, and why. You can ask someone to freelance as an assistant, or work for free. This will give a tangible boost in knowledge, not only as a programmer, but also as a team member. Learn how to use migrations, bug tracking systems, version control systems, which is very important in team development. And as a junior, you will definitely work in a team and under supervision. It is important to work with different information and be able to offer several development options and solutions. Something like this.
If you have time. Try to do something more complicated than an online store. For example, an airline website with flights and booking tickets, monitoring, etc. Banking systems, working with the API of Google, Facebook, VK, or online cash desks. Different types of data parsing and display.

Answer 4

Getting Started PHP: The Right Way - Lots of useful information for beginners and experienced programmers alike.
And then there are frameworks, but without them now there is nowhere

Answer 5

Would recommend reading
1.) PHP Basics by Kevin Jank
2.) OOP PHP by Mett Zandstra 3rd Ed.
3.) Framework - from Yii developer - Makarov

Answer 6

No framework