1) Always remain calm and be patient To become a PHP Developer one must have enough patience. If you lack patience then i suggest you to practice some patience tips. 2) Stay Away from Anything Ending With _once() We all know that include() simply gives us a warning if it fails, while require() kills the script with a fatal error when it fails. What we don't forget is that include_once() and require_once() is extremely hard on server resources. 3) Develop With Error Reporting On good PHP developer handles errors perfectly. It is always necessary to handle exceptions and errors in a good code. The very first thing you do when starting a new project is to turn error reporting to E_ALL, and you should only turn it off ten seconds before going to production mode. 4) Go OOP If you have not yet entered the realm of Object Oriented Programming, then you are at a disadvantage, and you are falling behind fast. OOP is essentially a method of programming with the use of classes, or Objects, which tie like things together, remove the need for repetition of code and perform the basic tasks of production very simply. 5) Use PHP's Inbuilt Functions PHP has many built-in functions that can do what you need them to, so check out the manual to make sure you are doing it in the best way possible. 6) Validate all POST and GET Another thing you can do is validate all POST and GET strings, never use $_REQUEST, and make sure all form submitted data is of the right type and value before adding it to a database query. 7) Understand Your Project You cannot code a project that you do not fully understand. If you do not understand exactly what it needs to do, and how it needs to it, you cannot build it. 8) make proper documention Always make it a practice to develop a habit to the PHP developer to document the code. Do not go and code something that you have no interest in, or will never use. Build what you like, and you will be excited and interested by it, and you will learn. Then, make it awesome, build upon it, and make it better. 9) Create a Configuration File Instead of having your database connection settings scattered everywhere, why not just create one master file that contains its settings, and then include it in your PHP scripts? If you need to change details later on, you can do it in one file instead of several files. 10) Don’t Over-Comment Your Code Comment the complicated parts of your source code so that when you revisit it later you’ll quickly remember what’s going, but don’t comment simple things. Good code is self-explanatory most of the time. 11) Use a Good Source Editor to Save You Time Your editor is where you’ll spend the majority of your time, so you want to use something that helps you save time. An example of a source code editor/IDE for PHP is phpDesigner. 12) Use a MySQL Administration Tool (Like phpMyAdmin) It’s a good thing to know how to administer your MySQL database using mysqladmin, but afterwards, you should use a graphical user interface like phpMyAdmin to speed up database development and administration.