If you've spent some time building applications with Django and have decided to explore Laravel, you may initially feel like you're learning backend development all over again.

You're not.

The syntax is different. The project structure is different. The terminology is different. But many of the architectural ideas behind Laravel will feel surprisingly familiar if you've worked with Django.

This article is a practical guide for Django developers transitioning to Laravel. Instead of learning Laravel concepts in isolation, we'll map them to their Django equivalents and build a mental model of how a Laravel application works.

By the end, you should be able to look at a Laravel project and understand where routes, controllers, models, validation, authentication, business logic, and database operations belong.

1. Django vs Laravel: The Mental Translation

The easiest way to start learning Laravel as a Django developer is to create a mental translation table.

Django	Laravel
Django project	Laravel application
Django app	No exact equivalent
`urls.py`	`routes/web.php`, `routes/api.php`
View function / Class-Based View	Controller method
Django ORM	Eloquent ORM
Model	Model
`models.py`	`app/Models/`
DRF Serializer	API Resource / Form Request
Django Forms	Form Requests
Middleware	Middleware
`settings.py`	`.env` + `config/`
`manage.py`	`artisan`
Django migrations	Laravel migrations
Django templates	Blade
`JsonResponse` / DRF Response	`response()->json()`
Django signals	Events / Observers
Management commands	Artisan commands
`pip`	Composer
`requirements.txt`	`composer.json`
Celery	Laravel Queues / Jobs

The important thing is not to assume that these are exact one-to-one replacements.

They aren't.

They are simply useful mental bridges.

For example, a Laravel API Resource and a Django REST Framework Serializer both help shape API responses, but they work differently.

2. The Laravel Request Lifecycle

Before learning individual Laravel components, understand what happens when a request reaches your application.

Imagine a React frontend sends:

POST /api/properties

A simplified Laravel request lifecycle looks like this:

React / Browser / Mobile App
            |
            v
       HTTP Request
            |
            v
      public/index.php
            |
            v
        Bootstrap
            |
            v
        Middleware
            |
            v
          Router
            |
            v
        Controller
            |
       +----+----+
       |         |
       v         v
   Validation  Business Logic
                 |
                 v
              Model
                 |
                 v
             Database
                 |
                 v
              Resource
                 |
                 v
           JSON Response
                 |
                 v
               Client

This is the architecture you should keep in your head while learning Laravel.

3. Laravel Project Structure

A fresh Laravel project looks roughly like this:

my-project/
│
├── app/
│   ├── Console/
│   ├── Exceptions/
│   ├── Http/
│   │   ├── Controllers/
│   │   ├── Middleware/
│   │   └── Requests/
│   │
│   ├── Models/
│   └── Providers/
│
├── bootstrap/
│
├── config/
│
├── database/
│   ├── factories/
│   ├── migrations/
│   └── seeders/
│
├── public/
│   └── index.php
│
├── resources/
│   ├── views/
│   ├── css/
│   └── js/
│
├── routes/
│   ├── web.php
│   ├── api.php
│   └── console.php
│
├── storage/
│
├── tests/
│
├── vendor/
│
├── .env
├── artisan
└── composer.json

If you're coming from Django, this structure might initially feel strange.

Django encourages you to break functionality into applications:

project/
├── users/
├── properties/
├── bookings/
└── payments/

Laravel doesn't enforce that approach.

Instead, a typical Laravel application organizes code around responsibilities:

app/
├── Models/
├── Http/
│   ├── Controllers/
│   ├── Requests/
│   └── Middleware/
└── Services/

You can still organize a large Laravel project by domain or feature, but Laravel itself doesn't force you to create an "app" for every feature.

4. Routes: Django's `urls.py` vs Laravel Routes

If you've used Django, routing is easy to understand.

In Django you might have:

path(
    "properties/",
    views.properties
)

Laravel uses:

Route::get(
    '/properties',
    [PropertyController::class, 'index']
);

Laravel routes are commonly placed in:

routes/
├── web.php
├── api.php
└── console.php

For example:

Route::get('/properties', [
    PropertyController::class,
    'index'
]);

POST:

Route::post('/properties', [
    PropertyController::class,
    'store'
]);

PUT:

Route::put('/properties/{id}', [
    PropertyController::class,
    'update'
]);

DELETE:

Route::delete('/properties/{id}', [
    PropertyController::class,
    'destroy'
]);

Laravel makes the HTTP method explicit in the route definition.

5. Route Parameters

In Django you might write:

path(
    "properties/<int:id>/",
    views.property_detail
)

Laravel:

Route::get(
    '/properties/{id}',
    [PropertyController::class, 'show']
);

Then your controller can receive the ID:

public function show($id)
{
    //
}

A request such as:

GET /properties/10

gives:

$id = 10;

Laravel also supports a more powerful feature called route model binding, which we'll get to later.

6. Controllers: Django Views vs Laravel Controllers

This is one of the easiest concepts to transfer.

A Django function-based view might look like:

def properties(request):
    properties = Property.objects.all()

    return JsonResponse({
        "properties": list(
            properties.values()
        )
    })

A Laravel controller could look like:

class PropertyController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        $properties = Property::all();

        return response()->json([
            'properties' => $properties
        ]);
    }
}

Conceptually:

Django View
     ≈
Laravel Controller Method

Create a controller with Artisan:

php artisan make:controller PropertyController

Laravel creates:

app/Http/Controllers/PropertyController.php

7. Models and Eloquent

If there is one Laravel feature Django developers will understand almost immediately, it's Eloquent.

Eloquent is Laravel's ORM.

Django:

Property.objects.all()

Laravel:

Property::all();

Django:

Property.objects.get(id=1)

Laravel:

Property::find(1);

Django:

Property.objects.filter(
    status="available"
)

Laravel:

Property::where(
    'status',
    'available'
)->get();

Django:

Property.objects.filter(
    price__gt=10000
)

Laravel:

Property::where(
    'price',
    '>',
    10000
)->get();

The syntax is different, but the underlying idea is the same:

Application
     |
     v
ORM
     |
     v
Database

8. Creating Models

Create a Laravel model:

php artisan make:model Property

You will get something like:

app/Models/Property.php

A model might look like:

class Property extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = [
        'name',
        'location',
        'price',
    ];
}

You can then create records:

$property = Property::create([
    'name' => 'Apartment A',
    'location' => 'Nairobi',
    'price' => 25000,
]);

The Django equivalent is:

Property.objects.create(
    name="Apartment A",
    location="Nairobi",
    price=25000
)

9. Mass Assignment

One Laravel concept that might initially confuse Django developers is mass assignment.

You'll frequently see:

protected $fillable = [
    'name',
    'location',
    'price',
];

This controls which attributes can be assigned through methods such as:

Property::create([
    'name' => 'Apartment A',
    'location' => 'Nairobi',
    'price' => 25000,
]);

It's an important security mechanism.

You should understand $fillable and $guarded early when learning Eloquent.

10. Migrations

If you've worked with Django migrations, Laravel migrations will feel familiar.

Django:

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

Laravel:

php artisan make:migration create_properties_table

Then:

php artisan migrate

A migration might look like:

Schema::create('properties', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('name');
    $table->string('location');
    $table->decimal('price', 10, 2);
    $table->timestamps();
});

Compare that with Django:

class Property(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    location = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    price = models.DecimalField(
        max_digits=10,
        decimal_places=2
    )

The syntax is different, but you're expressing the same database structure.

11. Artisan: Laravel's `manage.py`

If Django has:

python manage.py

Laravel has:

php artisan

Artisan is one of the most important tools in the Laravel ecosystem.

Some commands you'll use frequently:

php artisan serve

Start the development server.

php artisan route:list

Display your application's routes.

php artisan make:model Property

Create a model.

php artisan make:controller PropertyController

Create a controller.

php artisan make:request StorePropertyRequest

Create a validation request.

php artisan make:resource PropertyResource

Create an API Resource.

php artisan migrate

Run migrations.

php artisan migrate:rollback

Roll back migrations.

php artisan migrate:fresh

Drop all tables and rebuild the database.

php artisan db:seed

Run seeders.

php artisan optimize:clear

Clear Laravel's cached configuration, routes, views, and other optimized files.

A good rule:

If you're wondering whether Laravel has a CLI command for something, check Artisan first.

12. Relationships

Laravel's Eloquent relationships are another area where Django developers should feel at home.

Suppose a property belongs to a landlord.

Django:

class Property(models.Model):
    landlord = models.ForeignKey(
        User,
        on_delete=models.CASCADE
    )

Laravel:

class Property extends Model
{
    public function landlord()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(
            User::class
        );
    }
}

Now you can access:

$property->landlord;

13. One-to-Many Relationships

Suppose a landlord owns multiple properties.

Laravel:

class Landlord extends Model
{
    public function properties()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(
            Property::class
        );
    }
}

Then:

$landlord->properties;

Django might be:

landlord.properties.all()

assuming you configured the appropriate related_name.

14. Many-to-Many Relationships

Django:

class Student(models.Model):
    courses = models.ManyToManyField(
        Course
    )

Laravel:

public function courses()
{
    return $this->belongsToMany(
        Course::class
    );
}

Then:

$student->courses;

Again, the terminology changes but the database relationship remains the same.

15. Eager Loading

One of the most important ORM concepts is avoiding unnecessary database queries.

Laravel:

Property::with('landlord')->get();

Django's rough equivalent:

Property.objects.select_related(
    "landlord"
)

For collection relationships:

Property::with('bookings')->get();

is conceptually similar to:

Property.objects.prefetch_related(
    "bookings"
)

This is important because both Django and Laravel applications can suffer from the infamous N+1 query problem.

16. Validation: DRF Serializers vs Laravel Form Requests

This is where the architecture starts becoming noticeably different.

In Django REST Framework, you might put validation inside a serializer:

class PropertySerializer(
    serializers.ModelSerializer
):
    class Meta:
        model = Property
        fields = "__all__"

    def validate_price(self, value):
        if value < 0:
            raise serializers.ValidationError(
                "Price cannot be negative"
            )

        return value

Laravel commonly separates request validation into a Form Request.

Create one:

php artisan make:request StorePropertyRequest

Then:

class StorePropertyRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'name' => [
                'required',
                'string',
                'max:255'
            ],

            'location' => [
                'required',
                'string'
            ],

            'price' => [
                'required',
                'numeric',
                'min:0'
            ],
        ];
    }
}

Then inject it into your controller:

public function store(
    StorePropertyRequest $request
) {
    //
}

Laravel automatically validates the incoming request before your controller method proceeds.

17. API Resources: Think DRF Serializer Output

Laravel has API Resources for transforming models into API responses.

Create one:

php artisan make:resource PropertyResource

Then:

class PropertyResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(
        Request $request
    ): array {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'name' => $this->name,
            'location' => $this->location,
            'price' => $this->price,
        ];
    }
}

Then:

return new PropertyResource($property);

For collections:

return PropertyResource::collection(
    Property::all()
);

A useful mental model is:

DRF Serializer
       |
       +---- validation/input
       |
       +---- representation/output

Laravel
       |
       +---- Form Request
       |       -> validation
       |
       +---- API Resource
               -> representation

Laravel separates these responsibilities more explicitly.

18. Middleware

Django developers already understand middleware.

Django:

MIDDLEWARE = [
    ...
]

Laravel:

Route::middleware('auth')->group(
    function () {
        // protected routes
    }
);

You can create middleware using Artisan:

php artisan make:middleware CheckUserRole

For example:

if ($request->user()->role !== 'admin') {
    abort(403);
}

Middleware is useful for concerns that should happen before or after controller execution, such as:

Authentication
Logging
Rate limiting
CORS
Role checks
Request modification

19. Authentication and Authorization

Laravel supports several authentication approaches.

One commonly encountered solution for API and SPA applications is Laravel Sanctum.

A typical architecture might look like:

React
  |
  v
Laravel API
  |
  v
Authentication
  |
  v
Controller

If you're coming from Django REST Framework and JWT, don't assume Sanctum is simply "Laravel's JWT."

Sanctum provides API token authentication and SPA authentication capabilities, but its model and workflow differ from JWT-based authentication.

Laravel also provides:

Gates
Policies
Middleware
Authentication guards

These become especially important as your application grows.

20. Policies and Gates

Suppose a landlord should only be allowed to update their own property.

You could check this directly inside a controller, but Laravel provides authorization mechanisms such as Policies.

Conceptually:

User
  |
  v
Can this user update this property?
  |
  +---- YES ---> Continue
  |
  +---- NO ----> 403 Forbidden

This keeps authorization logic separate from your business logic.

If you've used Django permissions, this is an area you'll want to explore carefully.

21. Environment Variables and Configuration

Laravel uses a .env file for environment-specific configuration.

For example:

APP_NAME=Laravel
APP_ENV=local
APP_DEBUG=true

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=my_database
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Django developers may recognize this approach from using packages such as python-decouple or django-environ.

Laravel configuration is stored under:

config/

For example:

config/
├── app.php
├── database.php
├── auth.php
├── cache.php
└── filesystems.php

Django developers can think of this as a more distributed equivalent of settings.py.

22. Blade Templates

Laravel's server-side templating engine is called Blade.

Django:

<h1>{{ property.name }}</h1>

Blade:

<h1>{{ $property->name }}</h1>

Django:

{% for property in properties %}
    {{ property.name }}
{% endfor %}

Blade:

@foreach($properties as $property)
    {{ $property->name }}
@endforeach

If you're building a Laravel API consumed by React, you may use Blade very little.

If you're building a traditional Laravel web application, Blade becomes much more important.

23. Dependency Injection and the Service Container

This is one of the Laravel concepts I recommend Django developers spend extra time understanding.

Suppose your controller depends on a service:

class PropertyController extends Controller
{
    public function __construct(
        PropertyService $propertyService
    ) {
        $this->propertyService =
            $propertyService;
    }
}

Laravel's Service Container can resolve that dependency for you.

Conceptually:

Controller
    |
    | requires
    v
PropertyService
    |
    v
Laravel Service Container

This is Laravel's dependency injection system.

Once you understand the Service Container, concepts such as service providers, bindings, interfaces, and dependency injection become much easier.

24. Services and Business Logic

Laravel applications often introduce service classes for complex business logic.

For example:

app/
└── Services/
    ├── PropertyService.php
    ├── BookingService.php
    └── PaymentService.php

A service might contain:

class PropertyService
{
    public function create(
        array $data
    ) {
        return Property::create($data);
    }
}

Then your controller becomes:

public function store(
    StorePropertyRequest $request
) {
    $property =
        $this->propertyService->create(
            $request->validated()
        );

    return new PropertyResource(
        $property
    );
}

The idea is to prevent controllers from becoming massive.

Instead of:

Controller
 ├── validation
 ├── authorization
 ├── payment
 ├── database logic
 ├── email
 ├── notifications
 └── business rules

you can have:

Controller
     |
     v
Service
     |
     +---- Model
     +---- Payment
     +---- Notification
     +---- Events

Don't create a service class for every two-line database query, though.

Use this architecture when it actually improves separation of responsibilities.

25. Events and Listeners

Laravel has an event-driven architecture available through Events and Listeners.

Imagine a user registers:

User registers
      |
      v
UserRegistered event
      |
      +----> SendWelcomeEmail
      |
      +----> CreateProfile
      |
      +----> NotifyAdmin

This keeps secondary operations out of the main request logic.

Django developers may find this somewhat similar to using signals, although Laravel Events and Listeners provide a different and often more explicit architecture.

26. Jobs and Queues

If you've used Celery with Django, Laravel's Jobs and Queues should make sense.

Suppose sending 10,000 emails would make a request slow.

Instead:

HTTP Request
     |
     v
Create Job
     |
     v
Queue
     |
     v
Worker
     |
     v
Send Emails

Create a job:

php artisan make:job SendNewsletter

Then dispatch it:

SendNewsletter::dispatch();

The user doesn't necessarily have to wait for the expensive operation to finish.

This is extremely useful for:

Emails
Notifications
Image processing
Reports
Payments
Imports
Exports
Heavy calculations

27. Scheduling

Laravel also includes a task scheduling system.

You might have a task that needs to run regularly:

Every day
    |
    v
Find overdue rent
    |
    v
Send reminders

Or:

Every hour
    |
    v
Clean expired sessions

This functionality can be combined with Artisan commands and queued jobs.

If you're coming from Django, think of this as part of the territory often handled by cron, Celery Beat, management commands, or similar tools.

28. Seeders and Factories

Laravel provides database seeders:

php artisan db:seed

For example:

Property::create([
    'name' => 'Apartment A',
    'location' => 'Nairobi',
    'price' => 25000,
]);

Factories allow you to generate test/development data.

For example:

Property::factory()
    ->count(50)
    ->create();

This is conceptually similar to using tools such as factory_boy in Django projects.

29. A Complete Laravel API Example

Let's put the pieces together.

Suppose we're creating:

POST /api/properties

The route:

Route::post(
    '/properties',
    [PropertyController::class, 'store']
);

The request validation:

class StorePropertyRequest
    extends FormRequest
{
    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'name' => [
                'required',
                'string',
                'max:255'
            ],

            'location' => [
                'required',
                'string'
            ],

            'price' => [
                'required',
                'numeric',
                'min:0'
            ],
        ];
    }
}

The model:

class Property extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = [
        'name',
        'location',
        'price',
    ];
}

The controller:

class PropertyController extends Controller
{
    public function store(
        StorePropertyRequest $request
    ) {
        $property = Property::create(
            $request->validated()
        );

        return new PropertyResource(
            $property
        );
    }
}

The resource:

class PropertyResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(
        Request $request
    ): array {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'name' => $this->name,
            'location' => $this->location,
            'price' => $this->price,
        ];
    }
}

The client sends:

POST /api/properties
Content-Type: application/json

{"name":"Apartment A","location":"Nairobi","price":25000}

Laravel processes it:

POST /api/properties
        |
        v
Route
        |
        v
PropertyController
        |
        v
StorePropertyRequest
        |
        v
validated()
        |
        v
Property::create()
        |
        v
Eloquent
        |
        v
MySQL
        |
        v
PropertyResource
        |
        v
JSON Response

That's a real Laravel API architecture.

30. Translating a Django Project to Laravel

Let's say you've already built a landlord/tenant system in Django.

Your Django architecture might look like:

Django
│
├── users
├── properties
├── bookings
├── payments
└── maintenance

The Laravel equivalent could look like:

Laravel
│
├── Models
│   ├── User.php
│   ├── Property.php
│   ├── Booking.php
│   ├── RentPayment.php
│   └── MaintenanceTicket.php
│
├── Http
│   ├── Controllers
│   │   ├── AuthController.php
│   │   ├── PropertyController.php
│   │   ├── BookingController.php
│   │   └── PaymentController.php
│   │
│   ├── Requests
│   │   ├── LoginRequest.php
│   │   ├── StorePropertyRequest.php
│   │   └── StoreBookingRequest.php
│   │
│   └── Resources
│       ├── UserResource.php
│       ├── PropertyResource.php
│       └── BookingResource.php
│
└── Services
    ├── AuthService.php
    ├── PropertyService.php
    └── PaymentService.php

Then your API flow becomes:

React
  |
  | POST /api/properties
  v
Laravel Router
  |
  v
PropertyController
  |
  v
StorePropertyRequest
  |
  v
Authorization
  |
  v
PropertyService
  |
  v
Property Model
  |
  v
MySQL
  |
  v
PropertyResource
  |
  v
JSON
  |
  v
React

This is a very useful architecture for someone already comfortable with Django REST Framework.

31. What You Should NOT Do as a Django Developer

One of the biggest mistakes when moving frameworks is trying to force your old framework's architecture into the new framework.

Don't assume:

Laravel = Django written in PHP

It isn't.

For example, don't automatically create:

PropertySerializer
PropertyView
PropertyForm
PropertyService

just because that's how you might structure something in Django.

Instead, understand what Laravel provides and use each component where it makes sense.

Likewise, don't put everything inside controllers simply because Laravel makes it easy.

A controller containing 500 lines of business logic isn't good Laravel architecture.

32. The Laravel Architecture to Learn

I'd recommend learning Laravel in roughly this order.

Level 1 — Foundation

Learn:

PHP
  ↓
Composer
  ↓
Laravel installation
  ↓
Project structure
  ↓
Artisan
  ↓
Routes
  ↓
Controllers

Level 2 — Database

Then:

Migrations
  ↓
Models
  ↓
Eloquent
  ↓
Relationships
  ↓
Query Builder
  ↓
Factories
  ↓
Seeders

Level 3 — API Development

Then:

HTTP Requests
  ↓
Validation
  ↓
Form Requests
  ↓
API Resources
  ↓
Pagination
  ↓
JSON responses

Level 4 — Security

Then:

Authentication
  ↓
Middleware
  ↓
Policies
  ↓
Gates
  ↓
Authorization
  ↓
Sanctum

Level 5 — Laravel Architecture

Then:

Service Container
  ↓
Dependency Injection
  ↓
Service Providers
  ↓
Services
  ↓
Events
  ↓
Listeners
  ↓
Jobs
  ↓
Queues

Level 6 — Production

Finally:

Caching
  ↓
Queues
  ↓
Scheduling
  ↓
Logging
  ↓
Testing
  ↓
Workers
  ↓
Deployment

33. The Most Important Concepts to Focus On

If you've already read the Django documentation, don't try to learn every Laravel feature immediately.

Focus heavily on these:

1. Eloquent

Understand:

Model::all();

Model::find();

Model::where();

Model::create();

Model::update();

Model::delete();

Then move into relationships and eager loading.

2. Form Requests

Understand how Laravel validates incoming data.

3. API Resources

Understand how Laravel transforms models into API responses.

4. Middleware

Understand where authentication, rate limiting, and request processing happen.

5. Policies and Gates

Understand authorization.

6. Service Container

This is one of Laravel's most important architectural concepts.

7. Dependency Injection

Understand how Laravel resolves dependencies.

8. Jobs and Queues

Especially if you're building production applications.

9. Events and Listeners

Learn how to decouple secondary operations from your main application flow.

10. Artisan

You'll use it constantly.

34. The Mental Model I Recommend

If you're transitioning from Django, remember this:

                       LARAVEL

                         Request
                            |
                            v
                       Middleware
                            |
                            v
                          Route
                            |
                            v
                       Controller
                            |
                 +----------+----------+
                 |                     |
                 v                     v
          Form Request             Policy
          Validation            Authorization
                 |
                 v
               Service
                 |
                 v
              Eloquent
                 |
                 v
              Database
                 |
                 v
              Resource
                 |
                 v
            JSON Response

You don't have to use every box in every request.

A simple endpoint might be:

Request
   ↓
Route
   ↓
Controller
   ↓
Model
   ↓
Response

A more complex endpoint might be:

Request
   ↓
Middleware
   ↓
Route
   ↓
Form Request
   ↓
Policy
   ↓
Controller
   ↓
Service
   ↓
Eloquent
   ↓
Event
   ↓
Job
   ↓
Resource
   ↓
Response

The architecture grows with the complexity of the application.

35. Final Thoughts

Moving from Django to Laravel isn't really starting over.

If you've already built applications with Django, you already understand most of the important backend concepts.

You know:

HTTP
Routing
REST APIs
Models
ORMs
Databases
Relationships
Migrations
Authentication
Authorization
Middleware
Validation
Serialization
Background tasks

Laravel simply implements many of these ideas differently.

The biggest shift is learning Laravel's way of organizing those responsibilities.

Instead of thinking:

"Where is the Laravel version of my Django file?"

start thinking:

"What responsibility am I trying to solve, and which Laravel component is designed for it?"

Once you start thinking that way, Laravel becomes much easier to understand.

And if you've already built a Django REST API, you're not beginning your Laravel journey as a beginner.

You're learning a new ecosystem using knowledge you already have.

The fastest way to make the transition stick is to build something you already understand in Django.

For example:

Landlord/Tenant API
       |
       +-- Authentication
       +-- Users
       +-- Properties
       +-- Bookings
       +-- Rent Payments
       +-- Maintenance Tickets
       +-- Roles
       +-- Authorization
       +-- Notifications

Build the same system in Laravel while consciously mapping:

Django              Laravel

urls.py          →  routes
views.py         →  controllers
models.py        →  Eloquent models
DRF serializers  →  requests/resources
ORM              →  Eloquent
middleware       →  middleware
manage.py        →  Artisan
Celery           →  Jobs/Queues
settings.py      →  config + .env

That's when Laravel stops looking like a completely different framework and starts becoming another way of solving problems you already know how to solve.

Laravel for Django Developers: A Practical Guide to Laravel Architecture

1. Django vs Laravel: The Mental Translation

2. The Laravel Request Lifecycle

3. Laravel Project Structure

4. Routes: Django's urls.py vs Laravel Routes

5. Route Parameters

6. Controllers: Django Views vs Laravel Controllers

7. Models and Eloquent

8. Creating Models

9. Mass Assignment

10. Migrations

11. Artisan: Laravel's manage.py

12. Relationships

13. One-to-Many Relationships

14. Many-to-Many Relationships

15. Eager Loading

16. Validation: DRF Serializers vs Laravel Form Requests

17. API Resources: Think DRF Serializer Output

18. Middleware

19. Authentication and Authorization

20. Policies and Gates

21. Environment Variables and Configuration

22. Blade Templates

23. Dependency Injection and the Service Container

24. Services and Business Logic

25. Events and Listeners

26. Jobs and Queues

27. Scheduling

28. Seeders and Factories

29. A Complete Laravel API Example

30. Translating a Django Project to Laravel

31. What You Should NOT Do as a Django Developer

32. The Laravel Architecture to Learn

Level 1 — Foundation

Level 2 — Database

Level 3 — API Development

Level 4 — Security

Level 5 — Laravel Architecture

Level 6 — Production

33. The Most Important Concepts to Focus On

1. Eloquent

2. Form Requests

3. API Resources

4. Middleware

5. Policies and Gates

6. Service Container

7. Dependency Injection

8. Jobs and Queues

9. Events and Listeners

10. Artisan

34. The Mental Model I Recommend

35. Final Thoughts

4. Routes: Django's `urls.py` vs Laravel Routes

11. Artisan: Laravel's `manage.py`