The use of "vanilla" web based coding languages is dead (pouring one out from my bottle of Cristal).

Like it or not, today's developers certainly prefer the convenience and features of modern web frameworks.

Although I'm a big proponent of learning the base coding languages that power these frameworks, it's hard to deny that they are great at simplifying many mundane tasks and "boiler plate" code.

After 2 years of working with "vanilla PHP", I finally decided to give Laravel a try. Here are 3 essential skills developers should have before jumping into the Laravel pool.

A Solid Foundation In PHP

If you didn't already know, Laravel is PHP framework so it's written in (you guessed it) PHP.

I think that the jury may be split on this, but I really do think one should have a solid grasp in the PHP coding language before learning Laravel. Although I do agree, an experienced coder from another coding language could probably pick up PHP and Laravel as they went, I don't think the majority of coders will be learning Laravel this way.

By first learning PHP, you will more deeply understand and appreciate what Laravel is doing, and will have an easier time distinguishing what is Laravel specific, and what is just plain old PHP.

SQL

ORMs (Object Relational Mappers) seem to be the way most web frameworks like to interact with databases.

Laravel is no different, utilizing Eloquent as it's ORM of choice. However, behind all of those simple Eloquent statements like "Users:all();", there is an underlying "SELECT * FROM users;" powering it.

If you go into learning Laravel with a good understanding of SQL, you can understand the "magic" of Eloquent (or bypass it's use completely).

Experience With Object Oriented Programming

If you don't understand Object Oriented Programming, Laravel is going to be way over your head.

Part of Laravel's charm is reducing the infamous PHP "spaghetti" code and delivering an elegant syntax and design for programmers to work with. A big part of how it does this is through the use of OOP and MVC (Model View Controller) principles.

Having a familiarity with OOP and MVC before taking on Laravel is essential to understanding the tool, and the philosophies behind it.