Wales, UK
Steve McDougall
Developer Educator & API Mentor
I've spent 15+ years building software and leading engineering teams. Today I write, speak, and build open-source to help developers get better at APIs, PHP, and software craft.
- 15+
- Years experience
- 100+
- Articles published
- 30+
- Conference talks
- 50K+
- Monthly readers
Latest Writing
All articles →Spec Driven Development With LLMs
How to write specifications that produce useful LLM output, covering interface definitions, edge cases, and why the spec is your highest-leverage artifact.
Shape Up: A Practical Introduction
A practical introduction to Shape Up - the planning methodology built on appetite over estimation, fixed time with flexible scope, and small autonomous teams.
Writing Pitches That Work
How to write Shape Up pitches that give engineering teams real clarity - problem definition, appetite, solution shaping, rabbit holes, and no-gos explained.
What I Create
Writing
In-depth articles on PHP, Laravel, API design, and software architecture — published here, in php[architect] magazine, and on Laravel News.
Browse articles →Speaking
30+ talks at international conferences covering APIs, PHP internals, developer tooling, and building great developer experiences.
View talks →Open Source
Packages used by thousands of developers across the PHP ecosystem, plus active membership on the PHP-FIG Core Committee shaping PSR standards.
View packages →What People Say
“Steve is one of the most thorough and thoughtful educators I've seen. He puts in a ton of effort and it clearly shows.”
Aaron Francis
Founder, Try Hard Studios
“Steve is the teacher you wish you had in school. He’s informative, entertaining, and passionate about what he does. I’m always excited to see more of Steve’s content!”
Alex Six
Senior Software Engineer, Zillow
“To me, there's one word that comes to mind: 'passion'. There are only a handful of people with the same passion for programming as Steve.”
Brent Roose
Developer Advocate, JetBrains
“Steve is a great developer with a wealth of knowledge that has contributed to many projects we have. His passion for API means we benefit from his aim for the best.”
Chris Miller
Team Lead, PHP Architect
“Steve is an awesome guy who knows a thing or two about APIs. I’ve learned so much from his content on his YouTube channel as well as his API video course.”
Davor Minchorov
Senior PHP Engineer, Adeva
“Steve is an awesome writer and communicator, he can take complex problems and communicate them in a way that anyone can understand.”
Eric Barnes
Founder/Editor, Laravel News
“Steve is highly engaging and an expert in what he does. I bookmark everything he publishes and refer back to it on a regular basis. The API king!”
Gary Clarke
YouTuber, Gary Clarke Tech
“Steve is one of the top API experts in the world and has been teaching our community for years.”
Jack Ellis
Founder, Fathom Analytics
“Steve has a profound mastery of APIs and a public-serving teaching approach.”
Ludovic Guénet
Software Engineer, Epekta
“Steve is a stream of knowledge. If you like clean, strict code and silky APIs, there’s nobody I’d sooner turn to for advice!”
Luke Downing
Educator, Laracasts
“Steve is an absolute weapon. We came for the APIs but we stayed for the clean code, robust systems architecture and deep knowledge of Laravel conventions. Steve made our code faster, more stable and easier to maintain ourselves in the future.”
Peter Thomson
Chief Technology Officer, Icehouse Ventures
“Steve was fantastic to work with. His deep understanding of Laravel, both technically and culturally, made him the perfect person to collaborate with.”
Phil Leggetter
Head of DevRel, Hookdeck
“Steve’s enthusiasm and positive attitude makes his educational content super easy to digest and makes learning new tools and languages really fun.”
Sam Carré
Head of Engineering, Plannr CRM
“Steve is one of my favourite people. He has a huge passion for teaching developers about APIs and good coding practices.”
Stephen Rees-Carter
Friendly Hacker, Valorin Security
“Steve brings knowledge and passion to the community, with easy to follow content that adds real value to any company that uses him.”
Steven Tey
Founder, Dub.co
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