
How to Hire PHP Developers in 2023: A Complete Guide

According to the forecasts of skeptics, the scripting programming language PHP should have long outlived itself, and other, more advanced technologies should have taken its place. But as practice shows, these predictions were not destined to come true – according to a study of the resource w3techs, 77.6% of all sites with known web programming languages use PHP.
Why has PHP earned such popularity? In this article, let’s look at the features of this language, what it can give your business, as well as how and where to hire a PHP programmer who can use its potential fully.
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Hypertext Preprocessor, or as they used to call it briefly, PHP – a classic scripting language for programming on the server-side (backend), characterized by open source, can be embedded in HTML-document, and is used mainly for web development. An example of code in this language looks like this:
Popular sites written in PHP include Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Wikipedia, Zoom, and many others. One difference is the PHP version of all the resources based on this language. According to w3techs statistics, 71.5% of all PHP-based sites use version 7. PHP 5 is written in 24.3% of web resources, while the remaining 4.2% are the newest version 8 and outdated 3 and 4.
In 2020, PHP turned 25 years old. Despite such a long history, it still holds a leading position, and the release of each new version increases its performance.
So why have developers chosen this language for over a quarter of a century?
Thanks to the above, PHP remains one of the most well-known development languages. Thus, WordPress, the content management system of a website, was created with its help – the market leader in CMS, based on which 55% of all existing web resources were built.
Creating easily scalable, dynamic web apps and sites, as well as programs with graphical UI, are areas in which PHP is unrivaled. We can highlight five tasks that this scripting language does best:
The extensive community, rich functionality, and variety of frameworks all extend the capabilities of PHP, making it available not only for developing web programs and sites but also for the server-side of mobile software. In addition, it supports all operating systems, most servers, and databases. All this makes it a universal scripting language. Take advantage of its benefits, and you can hire PHP developers and get a dynamic, easily scalable product.
Hiring can be challenging if you lack the technical knowledge and skills. Therefore, firstly, it is essential to understand the competence of the PHP programmer.
Such a specialist works with the internal part of the software that is responsible for creating the basis for a web app or website. But to perform their tasks well, PHP developers should have an idea of the frontend development – it allows full communication with all team members.
Responsibilities of PHP-coder:
To successfully perform their main responsibilities, a developer must have a certain list of hard and soft skills, which is important to mention when creating a vacancy and testing at the first interview.
The phrase “ability to develop web apps in PHP” gives too general an idea of what kind of specialist you need. Therefore, specify the mandatory requirements for a candidate in a more detailed way:
This list can be expanded depending on the needs of the specific company. For example, your project may require knowledge of microservices architecture, Doctrine, Eloquent or other ORM technologies, Docker software platform, GraphQL data query language, etc.
The development of any software involves, first and foremost, well-established teamwork. Therefore, in addition to technical knowledge and skills, the ideal candidate for the PHP developer position should have certain personal characteristics.
The list of soft skills can also vary at the manager’s discretion. For example, if you need a team leader, you can add to this list the ability to make plans and schedules, influence team members, and make crucial decisions.
You come across if you think you can find a good specialist in the field of backend development by simply visiting the first online job search platform. This is far from it. This process should be approached more thoroughly. Here are a few steps that will allow you to find a perfect developer:
It’s a good time to discuss choosing a channel for finding a PHP developer.
We have already mentioned several ways to hire a developer – take a new employee on staff, use the services of freelance specialists or go to an outsourcing company and hire a dedicated PHP developer. Can’t decide which way to choose? We’ve put together a complete guide for you on each of them.
Do you already have a development team just missing a PHP specialist? Planning to create several products in this language and support them after the release? Then this option is for you. It is good if you have the technical knowledge to find a candidate on your own, or a professional IT recruiter can do it.
Advantages of hiring a PHP programmer for an in-house team:
Disadvantages of the method:
Plus, a new full-time employee may also not work well with the team or take too long to get accustomed to it.
Freelance exchanges are a rather popular channel for selecting IT specialists nowadays. Developers who offer services on such resources work unofficially and are unlikely to be suitable for long-term cooperation.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Our advice – it is better to turn to freelancers to perform small tasks that do not affect the performance of the entire project.
Hiring a dedicated developer combines the benefits of working with freelancers and in-house hiring and eliminates these methods’ risks. Specialized outsourcing companies search for such specialists. They choose candidates following your request and interview them. And they often allow the customer to take part in this process themselves. The main thing in successful cooperation with an outsourcer is to choose a proven company with many years of experience and positive reviews.
Advantages of dedicated developers:
Despite the apparent advantages of working with outsourcing service providers, this method also has its risks:
Any risks in working with outsourcers can be avoided if desired. For example, the time difference is successfully used by some companies to provide 24/7 technical support. And to ensure information security, it is important to record this point in the contract with the provider.
Probably because PHP is easy to learn and very widespread, the labor of PHP developers is paid more modestly than professionals in other languages.
So which country is the cheapest to hire a PHP specialist from?
The cost of PHP programmer services depends not only on the region of residence but also on experience and knowledge of additional tools.
Do you have an idea for a cool product and need a PHP developer to implement it? Contact Glorium Technologies – we will find a specialist specifically for your project. With us, you can save money without losing the quality of software!
With the help of the PHP programming language, you can create a user-friendly website attractive to visitors. It will increase the traffic to the web resource, which will increase the ROI.
PHP development in itself is quite economical – the difference between the salary of a PHP developer and a JS specialist is about $30,000 a year. In addition, you can save money by not hiring a developer on the staff in favor of a dedicated specialist. And offshore PHP coders from Eastern Europe or India will cost up to eight times cheaper than hiring American specialists.
The recruitment is handled by specialists – an outsourcing company with which you sign a formal contract. It protects your project from unforeseen circumstances. You can adjust the budget of the project yourself by choosing the country for offshoring. Long-term cooperation is possible, which includes product support on an ongoing basis.
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