PHP, which stands for ‘Hypertext Preprocessor’ (previously Personal Home Page), is a powerful open source language used to create a range of web functions. With 80% of web projects using PHP as a server side language, PHP is such an essential language. That is why the demand to hire PHP developers across businesses is so high. To help you find the best from the pool, here are some tips and guides when hiring PHP developers.

To start off, here are some must-knows about the language and its developers:

It’s popular worldwide because:

• It’s beginner-friendly
• It’s open-source and free
• It’s platform-independent
• PHP can be hosted almost anywhere
• PHP is specially designed for web-related development
• WordPress, Drupal, and more are great CMS platforms
• PHP easily integrates with AJAX
• Doing Apache/MySQL interfaces are easy

PHP Frameworks:

• CodeIgniter
• Yii
• Zend
• CakePHP
• Laravel
• FuelPHP
• Symfony

PHP CMS Frameworks:

• Drupal
• Joomla
• MODx
• WordPress

PHP-driven Open-source Technologies

• Magento
• WordPress
• Zen Cart

Where to Find PHP Developers

Searching through online job sites, like Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn, and posting a job ad on your social media helps attract only a smaller part of tech talents. To access a larger scope of PHP developers, here’s a list of sites you can check when scouting for PHP developers.

• PHP Builder - an online community for PHP developers from different levels and backgrounds to learn, share, and discuss the programming language.

• PHP Developers Network - another online forum for PHP developers that also includes a tutorial section.

• Stack Overflow - one of the largest online communities for developers that features a job ad section for businesses looking to hire PHP developers, and more.

• GitHub - a widely popular and large developer online community to build software and manage projects.

• Quora - a Q&A platform for a wide range of professionals, including developers.

• Reddit - check for subreddits on PHP developers and recruitment where you can post job ads.

Note: These are just some of the great sites to start scouting for your ideal PHP developer. Keep in mind that these are also platforms for developers to discuss and share ideas. It’s best to follow the rules of these communities when posting.

IT Outsourcing companies

Tapping on a larger pool of tech talent is easier and safer with a reliable IT outsourcing or offshore firm. According to Deloitte’s 2016 Global Outsourcing Survey, 78% of businesses feel positive about their outsourcing relationship. When you hire PHP developers, consider partnering with an offshore provider who has a great track record of working with companies similar to yours.

PROS:

• Savings of up to 65%
• Source from thousands of top-notch developers
• Focus on core business
• Dedicated offshore PHP developers
• Reduced security and liability risks
• Rolling contracts

Related Article: Top 6 Tips When Hiring .NET Developers

How to Hire the best?

Look beyond the CV

Your candidates may fit your technical qualifications, however, work ethics and experience can tell more about how suitable a candidate can be. Check for the following when you hire PHP developers:

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
  Just like in any industry, communication is a vital skill to have. Your PHP developer may work individually to come up with solutions and writing codes, but how he or she communicates and collaborates with teammates and seniors are also very important to your project’s success.

• Project management skills
  Your ideal PHP developer should also have the necessary time management and organising skills to estimate the feasible length of tasks and complete them on time. This will also make it easier on your part to effectively manage your development team. Hire PHP developers who can commit, manage, and deliver within the scope of your project.

• Good understanding of Frameworks and Database concepts
  Candidates must have in-depth knowledge in one or more PHP frameworks, such as those mentioned above. Your candidate must also know basic databases and methodologies to integrate PHP with database management tools like Oracle, MySQL, and more.

Ask technical and hypothetical questions

Interview questions should be geared towards your candidate’s understanding of PHP and should give an insight on how your candidate works. Here are some sample questions you can ask to better assess a candidate.

1. In PHP, what’s the difference between a constructor and destructor?
   Answer: Constructors initialize newly created objects while Destructors are executed after the class becomes unreachable. Both are special types of functions that automatically appears when a PHP class is created or destroyed.
   
   
2. What are the common error types in PHP? Differentiate each.
   Answer:
   Notices – these are simple errors that occur when executing a script, for example, when there is an unidentified variable.
   
   Warnings – these are more important than notices but the scripts will still continue to run.
   
   Fatal – this error terminates script execution when it occurs.
   
   Knowing these errors are necessary so your PHP developer will understand what is happening during development and know what to look for when debugging.
   
   
3. What methodology did your previous team employ?
   Answer: This depends on the type of methodology your candidate knows. Either it’s Agile, Waterfall, and etc, the goal of this question is to know if your candidate is already knowledgeable of the methodology your team is using and if your candidate is also flexible with learning your methodology. Their answer will also give you an idea on how to work with them using your own methodology.

Test your candidates

Surprisingly, not many businesses incorporate technical tests in their recruitment process. Technical tests give you a better sense of how your candidate works, and the level of knowledge and experience he or she has. Testing your candidates shows you if they really walk the talk.

Also need to hire Java developers? You should hire Java developers with these skills.

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