It is not easy to find an experienced PHP web developer, as anyone who has ever looked for a PHP professional will know. PHP enjoys unbridled popularity as a programming language and there are more and more PHP web developers starting out. But the demand for these coveted developers is unstoppable.

PHP dominates today’s internet as the leading technology for web applications, as shown by a glance at the appropriate statistics. The software is so popular that nearly 82% of all web applications run on PHP. Worldwide, all hosting providers have built up and provide the so-called LAMP Stack as a standard package – meaning the combination of Linux as an operation system, the open-source web server Apache,MySQL as server-side database software and PHP as the programming language.

PHP web developers do not need to worry about a lack of work, since they develop a large part of what we now see in our browser windows and in mobile apps.

Areas of application for a PHP web developer

Many PHP web developers work on new or existing web applications that have evolved into complex projects over the years. The further development of existing systems with many users is very time-consuming work because you can’t just delete a large part of the code and replace it. A new design or integrating additional features is often difficult and requires highly skilled teams with experts who cooperate together efficiently.

Because the individual areas of complex PHP applications can hardly be overseen and managed by one single PHP web developer, PHP professionals are beginning to specialise.

While back end PHP web developers primary concern themselves with the server-side part of web applications and performance optimisation and data management, a front end developer will look after the usability and the general user experience.

If you use the appropriate specialist for each area, the results are often much better. There are also full-stack PHP web developers, who have extensive experience in various fields. They are often expensive and work as a lead developer or project manager.

In addition, many PHP web developers specialise in specific products such as content management systems (CMS), and are not as skilled outside their field. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento or Typo3 are the most well-known names, and thousands of PHP web developers worldwide develop design templates and plugins for these CMS. They do nothing else than create products to expand a CMS.

When you are on the search for a PHP web developer you should take a close look at their background.

Frameworks for PHP web developers

The development environments that the PHP web developer uses and is experienced in plays an important role. PHP web applications are comprised of hundreds of PHP and HTML files in a complex structure. Hardly anyone produces just pure code nowadays.

Instead, various PHP frameworks are used that make the development work, management and versioning much easier. Every PHP framework requires special knowledge and experience. You should keep this in mind when searching for a web developer.

PHP web applications which are especially complex are often realised with Zend or Symfony PHP frameworks. It is not easy to learn to use them skilfully, and it requires a long training period to be able to use them. Even PHP frameworks which are less complex such as CodeIgniter, Yii or CakePHP need to be first learned, and come with their own technical problems.

The Wikipedia category for PHP frameworks shows nearly 40 different PHP frameworks that PHP developers can specialise in. If you are looking for a PHP developer you should pay careful attention to which PHP frameworks and which versions the developer is experienced in. Various certifications, such as ones given for Zend framework, can be helpful in the selection.

Indian PHP web developers

Thanks to the widespread popularity of PHP, you can find a good PHP web developer everywhere in the world. Indian expertise is especially popular for PHP Outsourcing, since the country has an excellent reputation for its IT professionals despite its low wages.

Indian PHP web developers offer their expert knowledge as Outsourcing professionals for as low as €20 per hour. For the same profile in Europe you can expect to pay €65 an hour – more than three times as much.

You can use these cost advantages to your benefit with Outsourcing4work. We provide suitable PHP web developers for every size project and specialisation, and as European contract partner will take over the responsibility for smooth cooperation.

Our project managers who are experienced in Scrum/Agile will take over the virtual project management, and will help the Indian PHP professional blend seamlessly into the existing teams and workflows.

You can hire an Indian PHP web developer for a project at a fixed price, or as a temporary employee. You can also easily hire an entire team from India with us.