Getting your web development projects done with quality and on time by a competent PHP expert makes up for quite a treasure hunt. Especially if you are running a web development company, you must know what it takes to be a good PHP developer and where and how to acquire them.
In a world where programming languages are ever-growing, choosing someone who can proficiently render solutions for web development needs proper guidance from professionals. So, here we have curated a blog for all curious employers. This is what you need to choose a PHP developer for your web development projects in 2023.
Why Choose PHP Developers Anyway?
Considering the websites’ programming language statistics, around 79.8% of the web runs on PHP-based applications. So, of ten websites you come across daily, eight are PHP driven. Call it the flexibility of the language or the easy-to-use interface. PHP is one such language proven to deploy robust web applications.
However, the language alone cannot be credited for creating dynamic websites. The curious minds that aid the development of PHP-based applications are responsible for turning their fate. Efficiently developed applications have a promising future as compared to loosely tied applications. But how do you hire someone capable of developing feature-rich applications?
Who Is A Good PHP Developer?
In a nutshell, a good PHP expert knows how to adapt to various levels of project complexities. This requires a good amount of analytical and problem-solving skills. Additionally, a good PHP developer collaborates with several other skilled developers and creates various applications, and also does troubleshooting whenever required.
They usually have hands-on knowledge of most PHP frameworks, such as Laravel, Yii, Codeigniter, Zend, Symfony, Kohana, CakePHP, Joomla, TypeScript, CodeKit, WebStorml, Creative Tim, Angular JS, etc.
Just like a WordPress developer’s recruiting process, here is the essential checklist of skills that every good PHP developer must have:
- Knowledge of PHP programming language
- Understanding CakePHP- an open-source web framework, and PHPUnit- a unit testing framework;
- Working with SQL / MySQL databases;
- Knowledge of HTML and CSS;
- Good understanding of JavaScript;
- Knowledge of control systems (SVN / Git);
- Experience with frameworks like Laravel, Symphony, and YII2;
- Hands-on with CMS like Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress;
- Knowledge of OOP (object-oriented programming);
- Photoshop or a similar design tool;
- Good communication skills;
- A knack for problem-solving;
- The ability to think critically
How to Hire Best PHP Developers in 2023?
You can invest time in finding a good developer on websites such as StackOverflow and GitHub. These websites see a lot of traffic from developers who share knowledge and resources and network with like-minded individuals. This also makes these websites a perfect pool for hiring technically sound resources. Several top companies, including Google, recruit from such websites.
When you know you have narrowed it down to the potential candidates, check out these critical steps you should follow in every interview while hiring PHP developers:
- Proper investigation should be made into how many years the candidate has worked in the PHP field.
- It would help if you also evaluated how much time they can complete their projects.
- As a bonus point, they should have additional knowledge of other languages, such as AJAX, MySql, HTML, XHTML, Zend, etc.
- They have a decent design sense.
Technical Questions to Check the PHP Developer’s Capabilities
To define the level of PHP developers’ expertise, business managers usually check out their reviews on freelance platforms or PHP development companies’ sites. However, nothing works better than a face-to-face interview. For a compelling interview with PHP candidates, you need a list of questions and a well-organized video conference.
A list of questions for a hiring interview with PHP developers:
What is your practical experience in PHP development? What projects have you participated in?
These questions will help you identify candidates’ working experience, understand their skill level, and if they align with the company’s goals.
What were the most exciting projects and why? What technologies did you have to use when working on that project?
This will help you better understand a software developer’s tech stack and find out the most exciting areas of work for them.
Which technologies and frameworks do you know? Which of them do you use in your daily work?
These questions specify the tech stack and all the tech skills a developer has. For example, knowledge of most wide-spread frameworks like Yii, Laravel, CodeIgniter, object-oriented PHP programming, code versioning tools like Git, Mercurial, CVS, and databases like relational and NoSQL is a must for a good PHP developer.
What was the most challenging development issue in one of your projects? How did you solve them?
These questions show a software developer’s course of action in unpredictable situations.
What was the most creative solution you implemented in your past projects?
This question shows how creative a PHP developer can be in their work. The more they blend technologies, the more unconventional and modern a product can be.
Skill vs. Aptitude: PHP Expert Qualifications
People who want to hire PHP web developers to accomplish their projects pay extra attention to their skills and don’t consider their aptitude for new technology or trends.
While talent is necessary to develop the desired web applications, aptitude is required to ensure that the developer can work in a changing environment when the project requires it. If your developer can quickly adapt themselves as per the requirements of your project, then they are good to go.
Conclusion
PHP is the best programming language if you want to build a dynamic website to boost your business growth in the long run.
Moreover, you could also build GUI (Graphical User Interface) applications with it.
You need to hire the right PHP developers to build the perfect website. It’s best always to approach PHP development companies to find experienced PHP developers.
