My Journey Building a Food Waste Reduction App with Laravel

Three months ago, I started my internship as a backend developer. At the company, we use PHP Laravel to build scalable web applications, and this role has been an exciting opportunity for me to dive deep into the framework. So far, it’s been a rewarding experience. Around the same time, during our 'Lab Course' subject in the final semester of Computer Science and Engineering, we were encouraged to work on real-world projects. The best part? We had complete freedom to turn our own ideas into functional applications. My team and I brainstormed several ideas, but one stood out: Food Waste Reduction. The concept was to create a platform that connects businesses and organizations to share surplus food and reduce waste. It felt like a meaningful way to apply our technical skills to a real-world problem. Since I was already getting hands-on experience with Laravel during my internship, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to apply and expand on my skills. I suggested we use it for the backend of our project. The team agreed, and we moved forward with Laravel as our backend technology. It turned out to be the right decision — Laravel’s ecosystem, structure, and tooling made it easier to build a robust and scalable backend. On the front end, my teammate is working with React to create an intuitive and responsive interface. This combination of Laravel for the backend and React for the front end has allowed us to build a seamless and efficient application. Throughout this journey, I’ve learned a lot — not just about Laravel, but also about building something that has both technical complexity and social impact. What I’ve Learned So Far: Structuring a Laravel project for scalability and maintainability Using Eloquent ORM for managing complex database relationships Building RESTful APIs and integrating them with other services Collaborating effectively in a small dev team with real-world constraints As part of the “Learn in Public” mindset, I’m sharing this journey to connect with the community, get feedback, and improve along the way. I’m excited about the progress we’ve made and will continue posting updates as we get closer to completing the project. If you’ve worked on something similar — or are just curious — I’d love to hear your thoughts! P.S. Shoutout to ChatGPT for generating the cover image

Apr 18, 2025 - 22:16

My Journey Building a Food Waste Reduction App with Laravel

Three months ago, I started my internship as a backend developer. At the company, we use PHP Laravel to build scalable web applications, and this role has been an exciting opportunity for me to dive deep into the framework. So far, it’s been a rewarding experience.

Around the same time, during our 'Lab Course' subject in the final semester of Computer Science and Engineering, we were encouraged to work on real-world projects. The best part? We had complete freedom to turn our own ideas into functional applications. My team and I brainstormed several ideas, but one stood out: Food Waste Reduction. The concept was to create a platform that connects businesses and organizations to share surplus food and reduce waste. It felt like a meaningful way to apply our technical skills to a real-world problem.

Since I was already getting hands-on experience with Laravel during my internship, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to apply and expand on my skills. I suggested we use it for the backend of our project. The team agreed, and we moved forward with Laravel as our backend technology. It turned out to be the right decision — Laravel’s ecosystem, structure, and tooling made it easier to build a robust and scalable backend.

On the front end, my teammate is working with React to create an intuitive and responsive interface. This combination of Laravel for the backend and React for the front end has allowed us to build a seamless and efficient application. Throughout this journey, I’ve learned a lot — not just about Laravel, but also about building something that has both technical complexity and social impact.

What I’ve Learned So Far:

Structuring a Laravel project for scalability and maintainability
Using Eloquent ORM for managing complex database relationships
Building RESTful APIs and integrating them with other services
Collaborating effectively in a small dev team with real-world constraints

As part of the “Learn in Public” mindset, I’m sharing this journey to connect with the community, get feedback, and improve along the way. I’m excited about the progress we’ve made and will continue posting updates as we get closer to completing the project. If you’ve worked on something similar — or are just curious — I’d love to hear your thoughts!

P.S. Shoutout to ChatGPT for generating the cover image