Welcome to the first article in our “Testing” series – because debugging in production is nobody’s idea of fun.
As a Laravel developer, I’ve learned one hard truth: automated tests are your best friend. At first, they may feel like chores—like brushing your teeth before bed—but skipping them usually leads to cavities… or in our case, production bugs.
1. Catch Bugs Before They Catch You
Imagine this: you deploy a new feature and suddenly… the homepage breaks, the checkout fails, and your email notifications are sent to the wrong users. 😱
Writing tests early catches these issues before they escape. Tests are like a superhero sidekick who silently prevents disasters while you enjoy coding.
2. Tests Don’t Slow You Down (Really!)
Many developers grumble: “Tests are slowing me down!” But here’s the truth: fixing a bug after it hits production is 10x slower than writing a test upfront. Tests are like paying a tiny upfront cost to avoid a huge fine later. Less firefighting, more coding, less coffee overdoses.
3. High Coverage = Peace of Mind
When about 90% of your app is covered by automated tests, you can confidently make changes without fearing chaos. No more “It works on my machine” excuses or late-night debugging marathons. Tests give you a safety net, so even if something breaks, it’s caught immediately.
4. Lessons learned
Teams that invest in automated testing deploy faster and with fewer headaches. Writing tests early reduces stress, improves predictability, and accelerates development in the long run. In short: test early, ship confidently.
If you don’t have tests, ask yourself: how many times have you hesitated to touch a piece of code that isn’t well-maintained, just to avoid breaking something? That fear eats away at your productivity. Automated tests remove much of this anxiety, letting you confidently make changes without the constant “what if I break it?” panic.
In short: test early, ship confidently, and code without fear.
Final Thoughts
Think of automated tests as a developer’s secret weapon. High coverage (~90%) isn’t overkill—it’s smart engineering. Writing tests early saves time, prevents headaches, and keeps your coffee consumption under control.
So next time you’re tempted to skip writing that test, remember: your future self (and your users) will thank you.
What’s Next
In the next article in our “Testing” series, we’ll dive deeper into the different types of tests: unit tests, feature tests, and integration tests. You’ll learn when to use each type, how they help you write more reliable code, and some practical examples in Laravel.