Guide to Hire a PHP Developer

Choosing the right programmers for any project can be tricky, especially when you want to hire PHP developer. This is due to scripting language differences, a rapidly evolving ecosystem, the specific PHP developer roadmap they follow, and a competitive job market. But there’s even more to consider when you hire PHP programmer.

PHP is a popular programming language of all websites in 2024. So, there’s a high demand for PHP developers, making it difficult to hire the best talents.

If you eventually find experienced programmers, they may not be a local or nearshore software development team. This means there could be siloed communications due to time zone differences and a lack of visibility over the development process.

Add these potential bottlenecks, and you’ll see why hiring PHP developers is a problem for most businesses.

That’s why we’ve written this step-by-step guide on how to hire PHP developers, especially in 2024.

• Costs of hiring a PHP developer
• Where can you hire a PHP developer?
• How Should a PHP Developer Resume Look
• Technical Questions to Interview a PHP Developer
• What Should Your PHP Developer Do Next?
• Conclusion

Costs of Hiring a PHP Developer

The cost of hiring a PHP developer varies depending on the location, project complexity, experience, skillset, etc. 

According to Indeed, here are the hourly rates for hiring PHP developers in different countries:

• United States: $42.96
• Mexico: $14.37
• United Kingdom: £25.40
• Canada: c$35.23
• Australia: AUD 64.77
• India: INR 167

It’s important to understand these are only estimates, and the rates vary based on your project requirements and the developer’s experience. Some developers may also charge a fixed rate for your project rather than hourly rates.

Where Can you Hire a PHP Developer?

PHP Outsourcing Companies

ClickIT is a reliable PHP Outspurcing company. Regardless of your project size and type, we can work with your specific requirements to build custom solutions that meet your business and customer needs.

Due to the tedious process of recruiting a developer, many companies typically outsource to offshore talents. Unfortunately, this can lead to many problems regarding communication, time zone differences, and a lack of control over the development process.

As a nearshore software development company, ClickIT offers decades of experience and best-in-class developers. We can provide a dedicated team that is solely focused on your project, is in the same time zone as you, and will work with your requirements. 

ClickIT also provides staff augmentation services whether you’re looking to hire a PHP programmer, tester, back-end developer, full-stack, etc.

Freelance Platforms

When hiring a PHP developer, freelance platforms offer a flexible and effective way to find the right talent for your project. such as:

• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Fiverr
• Toptal

Recruitment agencies

Hiring locally through recruitment agencies that specialize in tech can be a highly effective strategy for finding PHP developers. However, it often comes at a higher cost compared to other methods. These agencies have established networks and a deep understanding of the local talent market, allowing them to identify candidates who not only possess the necessary technical skills but also fit your company’s culture.

How Should a PHP Developer Resume Look

Technical Skills for a PHP Developer

Good Knowledge of Databases

As a server-side language, PHP involves working with databases. It’s only necessary that a PHP developer roadmap includes working with the most popular and widely-used database management systems, such as MySQL, MongoDB, and Oracle. 

The PHP developer for hire must also be skilled in Structured Query Language (SQL) and be able to write complex queries.

Having a knowledge of distributed databases like Apache Hadoop and Google Bigtable could also be beneficial, especially when working on projects that require complex data architectures. 

Expertise in code versioning tools

A PHP programmer must demonstrate proficiency with version control and familiarity with code versioning tools like Git, CVS, SVN, or Mercurial. 

This helps your team keep track of code changes, especially when multiple developers work on the source code and maintain multiple versions of the same codebase. So, if anything goes wrong, you can revert to previous versions that work.

Knowledge of PHP frameworks

PHP frameworks help developers save time by providing standard functionalities rather than writing code from scratch. This can make the developer more productive and efficient while speeding up the development process. 

It’ll also help them build more secure web apps because of the data validation and sanitization already in PHP frameworks like Laravel, Yii, and Symfony. 

That’s why when you hire PHP programming is essential they are competent in using PHP frameworks.

HTML and CSS knowledge

Since PHP is often used for back-end web development, a working knowledge of HTML and CSS for PHP developers is beneficial. These are two core technologies for building web pages, and PHP is generally used to generate dynamic HTML and CSS code. Moreover, PHP developers may need to take on full-stack web development roles as part of their PHP developer roadmap, especially in simple projects.

Good comprehension of JavaScript

Although PHP is a server-side programming language, developers still need to connect back-end components with front-end elements. 

Therefore, a PHP developer should have a good grasp of front-end technologies, especially JavaScript. This helps them add interactivity and functionality to web pages.

Testing and debugging

Testing and debugging are critical skills for any programmer – and a PHP developer isn’t an exception. Before launching the product, it’s important to ensure it is error-free and that the functionalities work as expected. The product must also meet user requirements and quality standards.

This makes it vital for a PHP developer to be skilled in testing and debugging, which helps identify and fix bugs or other issues.

Performance optimization

Being skilled in performance optimization helps PHP developers verify how fast and efficient their code runs. 

You may want to look out for specific techniques like database and code optimization, load balancing, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), and caching. 

Understanding of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

PHP supports object-oriented programming, so a developer needs to understand OOP principles like classes, inheritance, objects, and encapsulation. This ensures the developer can write easily maintainable code that’s also extensible. 

Discover the best programming languages to learn in 2024.

Experience with Content Management Systems (CMS)

Most websites today are built using content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. 

It’s important for PHP developers to be familiar with CMS platforms, as they frequently use PHP as the primary programming language for developing plugins, themes, and modules.

CMS platforms also provide a streamlined development for your web development project, with which you can build quickly and efficiently. 

Hiring a PHP developer with a broad range of skills will help you build complete and functional apps that meet user requirements.

But it doesn’t stop at technical skills. A web development project takes time, creativity, and a lot of people are usually involved. Technical skills won’t always cut it. 

That’s why you should also look at soft skills for the potential PHP programmer.

Some PHP security best practices include using the latest PHP version, securing your web server, and validating user input before it is processed.

Ensure the developer understands PHP’s built-in security functions, such as input validation and sanitization, output encoding, data encryption and decryption, and password hashing.

Soft Skills for a PHP Developer

Good communication

A PHP developer must demonstrate a good level of communication skills. How clearly can they articulate technical concepts and ideas to other team members, stakeholders, or even clients? 

Can they communicate issues or challenges they face during the development process easily? Lastly, can you communicate your ideas easily with them, and they understand?

Answers to these questions will reveal the communication level of PHP developers you may want to hire.

Problem-solving abilities

Chances are that the development team will encounter bottlenecks during the development process. How likely can the PHP programmer analyze situations and recommend solutions?

It’s important for a developer to be able to think critically and solve potential problems.

You should look at what they’ve done in the past and the problems they have solved.

Time management

Meeting deadlines is critical to any software development lifecycle. You must be able to ship out the product or new features at the proposed times in the project roadmap.

Ensure you check how they prioritize tasks and meet project milestones, especially in sprints. This will give you an idea of how likely they are to manage their time and work efficiently. 

Teamwork

The software development process involves working with different people. It’s rarely a solitary task. 

So, a PHP developer must demonstrate excellent collaboration and teamwork abilities. They must be willing and able to work with other developers, designers, and stakeholders while contributing positively to the team’s success.

While technical skills are crucial, soft skills are equally important. The above soft skills will help you identify the PHP developers who genuinely make a difference in the work environment and can foster innovation.

Technical Questions to Interview a PHP Developer

In most cases, you can know the technical prowess of a PHP programmer by asking a few questions.

For example:

1. What are some of the differences between PHP 5 and PHP 7?

As an open-source language with an active community, PHP is an actively developed programming language with frequent updates. This question evaluates how up-to-date a candidate is in the language’s development and their proficiency in using both versions. They should be able to highlight and explain these differences.

PHP 7 introduced significant changes and improvements over PHP 5. Some of them are improved performance while using less storage, better error handling due to exceptions, scalar type hints, and there are new operators and functions.

2. How do you handle errors and exceptions in PHP?

Handling errors and exceptions in PHP is essential to developing a complete and reliable application. Using try-catch is the primary way of handling exceptions in PHP. 

The developer must also be familiar with error reporting and handling functions in PHP, such as

• error_reporting()
• restore_error_handler()
• set_error_handler(), 
• set_exception_handler()

Plus, they should be able to differentiate between recoverable and non-recoverable exceptions. Lastly, they should be able to use error-handling frameworks like Whoops and Errbit, which simplify error-handling and logging for PHP applications.

3. What are some of the most popular PHP frameworks, and which one do you prefer to work with?

You should always look to hire a developer who is competent and familiar with PHP frameworks, such as Laravel, Symfony, Yii, and CodeIgniter. This question will help you evaluate their ability. Ensure they explain the features and benefits of the framework they mention and why they chose their preferred framework.

4. How do you ensure the security of a PHP application?

PHP faces security threats like SQL injection, cross-site scripting attacks, and cross-site request forgery. Asking this question evaluates how a PHP developer can prevent these security threats from affecting your application. 

5. Review their portfolio

Lastly, you should review a candidate’s portfolio to see examples of their past work. It allows you to assess their experience, skills, and code quality. 

Reviewing their portfolio will also reveal the complexities of their previous projects, their ability to work with different technologies and tools, and how these elements can be useful in your project.

What Should Your PHP Developer Do Next?

A PHP developer’s tasks will depend on your organization, business needs, and the project’s requirements.

However, the responsibilities of a PHP developer typically include the following:

Developing and maintaining PHP-based web applications

A PHP developer’s primary responsibility is designing, developing, and maintaining websites and web applications using the PHP programming language. They collaborate with other developers within a team to design and implement a web application that meets business and customer needs.

Integrating front-end elements into web applications:

PHP developers also work closely with front-end designers and developers to ensure the front-end elements of the web application are integrated into the back-end PHP code.

Writing clean, efficient, and well-documented code

Like any developer, a PHP programmer is also required to write high-quality, reusable, and maintainable code. The code must be well-documented and easy to understand by all stakeholders.

Troubleshooting and debugging issues with web applications 

Part of a PHP developer’s task is to correct, identify, and fix bugs and any other issues with the web application. This also includes troubleshooting issues related to the database or server.

Maintaining databases

PHP supports various databases, so developers will be expected to be proficient in working with databases. This includes maintaining databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB to ensure they’re optimized for the custom web app.

Conducting testing and quality assurance on web applications

Developers must be able to perform automated and manual testing on PHP-based web applications to ensure they meet security and quality standards.

This includes unit testing, system testing, integration testing, regression testing, and security testing against threats like SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). 

Providing technical support to end-users 

PHP developers also communicate with the end-users to offer technical support for issues they may encounter while using the web application.

Participating in code reviews

In cases where other developers wrote the web app’s code, a PHP developer reviews the code to ensure it meets the business’s needs and quality standards.

Documenting code, workflows, and procedures

PHP developers document the code and workflows used in the web development process. The documentation must also cover procedures for maintaining and troubleshooting the application. 

Documenting code, workflows, and procedures can facilitate collaboration, help new developers get up to speed faster, and ease future code maintenance. 

Provide technical guidance for business decisions.

A PHP developer may also provide technical input to help C-level executives make informed decisions about the web application. This includes when to scale, the features to add or remove, and security considerations.

As mentioned earlier, these tasks will depend on the project and business needs. For example, not all PHP developers will be required to have front-end coding skills. A separate developer could handle the front-end development.

In some cases, PHP developers don’t offer technical support directly to the end-user. Instead, they work with other team members to create infographics or tutorials.

Hire PHP Developer Conclusion

PHP is an excellent programming language for creating dynamic web pages that are easily scalable. It is versatile and can be used for small, simple websites or complex web applications. 

The steps above will help you understand how to hire PHP developer and the skills to keep an eye on. Remember to look out for soft skills like communication, teamwork, and leadership just as much as technical skills are required.

Hire PHP Developer FAQs