If you are looking for a PHP developer, you already know that it can take some time before you find the right candidate. As a key technology for web development, PHP has been hit especially hard by the IT skills shortage.
And then you have the often high level of specialisation – if you do not want to take the time to train a PHP professional in your team, then they should already have experience in the respective area. PHP can be used for a variety of purposes, and every application requires further additional qualifications in addition to pure knowledge of the scripting language.
Fields of application PHP developers are needed for
While previously PHP developers were primarily needed for website development, nowadays modern content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Magento have largely taken on this role. The majority of modern CMS are almost always server-side driven PHP web applications.
Today’s CMS are currently so well-engineered and flexible that they can realise nearly every type of website. Through a modular approach which extends the CMS software via templates and plugins, you can create innovative online presences. This would previously have required a PHP developer or other web developers.
Many PHP developers nowadays are active in plugin or template development for WordPress or other CMS.
However, many startups and IT corporations need PHP developers to create complex web applications. There is a difference between back end, front end or full stack PHP developers. While a back end PHP developer is responsible for the server-side part of the web application, the front end PHP developer is specialised in the graphical interface shown in the browser. Full stack PHP developers are experienced in both areas.
Looking for a front end or back end PHP developer?
Full stack developers are more expensive, but can take on complex projects alone. If a company has a large budget for bigger teams, then it will mainly be a mixture of front end, back end and even full stack PHP developers.
A good back end PHP developer can optimise a web application’s performance and scalability from the start, which is then noticable during high-traffic by lower server costs. Front end professionals bring with them a deeper knowledge in user experience (UX), which creates a positive UX with an optimal interface design and operating elements. It is essential to work together with a web designer for this.
PHP frameworks
Knowledge in one or more PHP frameworks plays a key role for good cooperation among a PHP developer team. The skillful use of a PHP framework is almost as important as the skill in the programming language itself.
The PHP frameworks Symfony or Zend are often used for complex web applications based on PHP. There are also more streamlined development environments which are optimised for performance such as CakePHP, CodeIgniter or Yii. The Wikipedia category for this shows almost 40 different PHP frameworks that PHP developers can specialise in. If you are looking for a PHP developer, you should keep in mind the relevant experience for each PHP framework. The version and the possible certifications (such as with Zend) play a role here because the most important frameworks are constantly evolving.
Indian PHP developers: needed, found and saved money!
If you are looking for a good PHP developer, you can save money with PHP developers from India. As you certainly know, India is the world’s largest Outsourcing market for developers and other IT professionals. PHP is especially well-suited for working over a distance, since the test environments in the development phase can be easily shared online.
Outsourcing4work can provide you with experienced Indian PHP developers as temporary employees, for a project at a fixed prices or as a team that works exclusively for you. This will significantly reduce your development costs.
While a European PHP developer with a computer science degree and three years of experience will cost nearly €80,000, you can hire an Indian developer for a fraction of the cost.
Whether you need a CMS developer for templates, plugins and more, or a specialist for customised front end/client environments – we will easily find a suitable PHP developer for you. The contracts are concluded directly with us as a European company for your security. We then take care of the rest with our own project managers.
