Tic-Tac-Toe ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tic-tac-toe ), I am not sure if this is a simple one but, you can certainly learn a lot from this.

I think as a Junior Developer everyone goes through this phase. Even though we know a lot of things, we need to go through the training phase where the company evaluates our strength, understands our technical knowledge. So, even though you think you are not working on something you like, I say, learn it thoroughly, finish it as soon as you can so that, you keep getting new projects and eventually you will be doing what you like. But again, do not work on something you don't like for too long. Make a smart switch.

Currently, I use sublime and its kind of a standard editor used at my workplace but, I will surely try VSCode for my personal use if not at work.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Honestly, there is no need to by heart any algorithm. Certainly, you must know them but, its OK if you forget some. The important part is to know data structures and given a question i.e. now you have to write an algorithm, you must, exactly know, which is the most efficient data structure for this problem. Once you solve the problem you can verify your algorithm (for complexity analysis) with an existing solution.

Well, it depends. If its a bright sunny day, might go out, cycle or do some water sports :P But, if I am too lazy will spend my whole day reading a book, newspapers.

My day starts with reading emails then, technical blogs and follow general news. The best way to stay productive is to read something useful and motivating (and technical innovation motivates me) :)

I personally, watch online video tutorials and read technical documentation, while I am about to start something new. While I was trying to learn spring framework (and spring boot) I watched the following videos: Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8k2-Egfv0&list=PLC97BDEFDCDD169D7 You can also register the audit courses for free in coursera (if one available, not sure) or else, few other reasonable courses.

I have very less information about Laravel but, to increase the efficiency and reduce the latency, one can do is distribute the data. This involves the networks, the databases (like NoSQL databases, built with a focus on scalability, so they all include some form of sharding or partitioning so, the data can be distributed and easily accessed). So, to get high speed access, all the above mentioned factors are to be considered. For reference, you can watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHEFubEQbMo (basic idea).