On the AirPair site today they've posted an article from developer Brian Fenton covering several things he sees as the best practices for modern PHP development, a listing of several tool, practices and suggestions to improve your skills as a PHP developer and bring them to the next level.

He breaks it down into five main sections (each with their own subsections):

• Setup and configuration
• Use Composer
• Follow good design principles
• Object calisthenics
• Unit testing

Some of the points made under each of these sections include suggestions about using sensible defaults, installing and using Composer, the SOLID design principles and unit testing tools. Check out the full post for more great suggestions and techniques to improve your skills.