Landing your first junior PHP developer role is less about knowing everything and more about proving you can learn fast, write clean code, and communicate clearly. Here's how I'd approach the preparation if I were starting the search today.

Build a portfolio that shows real work, not just tutorials. Two or three solid projects — ideally with source code on GitHub and a live demo — say far more than a long list of technologies you've "used." A CRUD app with authentication, clean code, and a short README explaining your decisions is worth more than five half-finished side projects.

Know the fundamentals cold. Expect questions on PHP syntax and OOP basics (classes, interfaces, inheritance), how PDO and prepared statements work, basic SQL (joins, WHERE clauses, indexes), and HTTP fundamentals (GET vs POST, status codes, sessions vs cookies). These come up in almost every junior interview.

Practice explaining your code out loud. Interviewers often care as much about how you think through a problem as whether you get the exact right answer. Walk through your own portfolio projects: why did you structure the database that way, what would you change now, what was the hardest bug you fixed.

Get comfortable with Git. Committing in logical chunks with clear messages, branching, and resolving a merge conflict are baseline expectations on any team, and easy to demonstrate through your own project history.

Prepare for a small take-home test or live coding exercise. Many junior PHP roles include a short practical test — building a simple form handler, fixing a bug in provided code, or writing a function against given requirements. Practice working under mild time pressure so it doesn't throw you off on the day.

Finally, apply before you feel 100% ready. Junior roles exist specifically to hire people who are still learning — the goal is to show a solid foundation and genuine momentum, not finished mastery.