what would be the next step?

Question

Do i need to move around plain php, make some projects, or should play with a framework like laravel, symphony etc, I'm bit confused now.

Answer 1

if your project is not too complex then you can build it drom scratch but if you are aiming to complex project then it is better to use frameworks. because frameworks save your time by providing ready to use common codes like databse connection. additionally, they also provide security so you face less security problems.

Answer 2

make sure that you are good plain PHP programmer first (HTML, CSS and Javascript too) then learn a framework like Laravel.