Hiring a PHP developer can be a tough task as those programmers can deal with various needs during web development. An inexperienced startupper or business owner can even get into prostration as numerous related technologies can be used with PHP language. Traditionally, PHP is associated with the backend of web applications; however, most PHP programmers know frontend basics and can accomplish even full-stack roles.
Orange Sputnik has 8+ years of experience, so our managers now all the pitfalls of hiring PHP developers. We use Staff Augmentation approach, which allows decrease hiring time, save money for keeping in-house programmer, while provides full control over the remote worker and shifts dealing with distracting details like wages and taxes on us. Contact us to know more and try a comfortable method of adding PHP coders to your team.
PHP coders hiring:
What these developers do, Why in demand,
and Where to find?
- What tasks can PHP coders accomplish?
Even though PHP is a free general-purpose programming language that can be applied for both back and front end of the web development, it is preferably used for the server-side of the projects. - Why are PHP engineers needed nowadays?
This language is amid the most popular ones due to its simplicity, compatibility, flexibility, and open-source development. Web applications written on PHP are easy to scale and combine with other web coding technologies. - Where to seek PHP developers?
If someone looks for a remote programmer, Ukraine is one of the best destinations to explore. The massive talent pool is facilitated by low wages, appropriate knowledge of English, and absence of time gap, which especially valuable for European businesses.
Located in Ukraine
Being located in Ukraine and having 5+ years of experience in staff augmentation, Orange Sputnik creates the most suitable conditions to hire developers for startups and IT businesses from abroad.
What are the roles and responsibilities of PHP developers?
The variety of functions that PHP programmers can accomplish is huge. Despite the fact that this language is mostly used to create code for the back-end of the web projects, developers that know PHP prefer to know a few front-end technologies. It helps them to connect visual and server sides of applications and accomplish full-stack functions in the IT firms. So, applying the back-end of the web program on PHP opens ample opportunities both for firms and software engineers that chose this language.
What relates to the popularity and spreading of PHP, this language takes the 6th place in the world with about 6 million of active programmers according to SlashData analysis. It means that choosing PHP will be a perspective decision for many years as the market is fulfilled with supply and demand, which creates a safety shield for this market sphere.
That is the core usage of PHP that can be met across CVs and job descriptions nowadays. Usually, this language is stated to show that the programmer can or should deal with the server-side of web projects. As there is a huge variety of frameworks, CMSs, or databases that PHP can deal with, every employer should mention particular technologies or preferable features that should be known by the developer. It will help to find the best fit for every concrete case and project of the firm.
When the talk is about the programmer, it is not enough to mention just PHP and seek for best propositions. Listing technologies that a developer can use with PHP will show particular experience and increase the trust of a potential employer. This language itself is rather flexible and scalable to be mentioned alone, so being specific can help both sides of web development.
During the analysis of work descriptions and CVs, we found that PHP is usually mentioned with a few front-end technologies. Of course, basic HTML and CSS are needed for every user side in web programming, but further specifications can vary significantly. Thus, some prefer to mention only JavaScript as a popular language for the front-end, while others list concrete technologies like Angular, VueJS, or ReactJS. The variety of CMSs based on PHP also should be mentioned as front-end approaches, because they allow customizing of the design and functionality of the website (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, to mention a few).
In practice, all these could mean two variants:
- PHP programmer works with the server-side of the project and has an understanding of JS principles and features to connect back-end with a needed front-end technology. Knowledge of JavaScript technologies or CMSs can be not so deep.
- PHP developer accomplishes functions of a full-stack programmer in the projects, building both sides of the applications from scratch. Knowledge of the front-end frameworks and CMSs should be on a high level.
Why is PHP so popular nowadays?
As this scripting language appeared in 1995, it has gone a long way to the current look. The latest version has the name PHP 7, which confirms that there were done numerous improvements to this technology. Changes were related to diverse sides of the language, adjusting its paradigm, principles, philosophy, structure, features, and so on. Currently, stable releases begin with the name PHP 7.4 and operate on Zend engine, but there are a few similar language implementations and versions like HHVM, Parrot or HipHop.
All the diversity of versions and implementations only confirms that PHP is not an ideal solution for web scripting, but enthusiasts continue upgrading of this programming language. Nowadays, the most common Pros of PHP look like in the following list:
- Web orientation. PHP was designed for working with web applications, which led to several options it possesses. Thus, it can be used for both small and huge structures (not every language can), ready to speed accelerating technologies like AJAX, and has a perfect connection with databases as the core of applications’ server-side.
- Availability for beginners. The syntax of PHP is quite similar to C/C++, which simplifies the process for newcomers. Moreover, as there are plenty of frameworks made on PHP basis, some tasks can be accomplished without deep and detailed learning of the language./li>
- Open-source. The history of programming confirms that free coding approaches gain vast popularity among developers as allow sharing of ready solutions. It facilitates the interest and accessibility to the language while also leads to useful additions in the form of frameworks, libraries, CMSs (content management systems), or testing tools.
- Independence. The flexibility of PHP can be seen in the variety of functions this language can accomplish in web developing. It is often used for reliable back-end code while additional adjustments can seamlessly glue it with almost any front-end piece of content. Moreover, no browser dependence and the ability to create an application for all the platforms is a substantial benefit.
Nevertheless, there are some cons of working with PHP:
- Spreading of Frameworks. The variety of PHP frameworks help to solve tasks faster but bears a few problems at the same time. Thus, the quality of some approaches is doubtful as they are free and open, especially in terms of protection. Furthermore, all the diversity of decisions and methods is forcing to focus more on learning frameworks instead of PHP itself. In other words, knowing the basis of PHP does not guarantee that you can start working with any framework immediately.
- Affected Speed. There are some solutions to accelerate the work of the app written in PHP like Zend optimizer, which confirms the code itself can be clammy. For instance, programs designed on C++ are much faster even though require much more time for creating. Moreover, some of the frameworks fulfil the code with unneeded data, which can make small and simple applications too massive. All these don’t make PHP a poor language but requires an understanding of the nuances above.
All the benefits and disadvantages can be grouped in another way and look differently, but the primary features to know were highlighted inside at least.
The situation with PHP-related skills is quite common to the whole software development sphere, where the programmer cannot rely only on one language or technology. Even though the set of capabilities vary from project to project, there are a few most often mentioned technologies, which are required apart of pure PHP. According to Payscale, such a list consists of MySQL, JavaScript, HTML5, and jQuery. The frequency and salary spreading looks like on the following chart:
The current situation with web development forces every junior and senior PHP programmer to widen knowledge far from the pure PHP scripting. Even those who are focused more on the back-end of the applications should know basic front-end approaches, nothing to say about the developers who want to accomplish full-stack programming. After analysing tens of CVs and work descriptions, we formed a list of most often mentioned additional technical requirements to PHP programmers (specifying each):
- PHP Databases (MySQL, MongoDB, Oracle, PostGreSQL)
- PHP Frameworks (Laravel, Magento, Symfony, CodeIgniter, Yii)
- PHP CMSs (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Modx)
- Front-end basis (HTML, CSS)
- JavaScript frameworks (Angular, React.js, Vue.js)
- JavaScript libraries (jQuery, Bootstrap.js, lodash)
- Desktop patterns and interfaces (MVC, GUI)
- API principles
- LAMP stack (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP)
- Code Version Tools (Git)
- Understanding of authorization and authentication principles for diverse languages and approaches
- Knowing security issues related to PHP and related frameworks
What is interesting, that is not a full list of possible technologies that may be mentioned with PHP, but this set still lacks many specific components. Actually, the job description may look similar in terms of major skills like frameworks or databases, but with mentioning only one representative from the brackets.
Content Management Systems usually accomplish front-end roles as allow building and customizing websites and online platforms according to the needs. However, they are typically used to create websites that are fulfilled with content like blogging or news. If web application should accomplish more complex tasks (Facebook, Quora, etc.), it is better to use PHP frameworks, which have wider opportunities to deal with data processing. Sometimes, it is hard to draw a strict line between those two concepts, which leads to solutions like CakePHP that can be mentioned as a framework and CMS at the same time.
The list of 7 best CMSs made on PHP
looks like the following:
- WordPress (The most popular and free, has various plugins that increase interactive flexibility)
- Joomla (Nice choice for building responsive and interactive websites based on diverse DB)
- Drupal (Amid the most popular backgrounds in web, especially valuable for eCommerce)
- SilverStripe (Allows performing via GUI and ready to solve diverse tasks)
- Modx (Robust, flexible, and widely customizable platform for both small and huge apps)
- Concrete5 (Easy to use the open-source system, which enables building diverse websites)
- PHP Fusion (Based on MySQL with numerous adjusting features, free for usage)
Databases (DB) are among the inevitable parts of any web solution as they are the places to store information. As PHP is a back-end oriented language, it is well-adjusted to work with databases, including both SQL and NoSQL approaches of stroying data. Although choosing a DB and its type is the matter of a particular project, some tendencies allow listing top-7 databases, which are most often used with PHP:
- MySQL (Pretty popular open-source DB that shows excellent compatibility with PHP)
- MongoDB (Easy to scale while good performing DB on NoSQL principles)
- PostGreSQL (This DB uses compression features, but a bit slower than MySQL)
- IBM-DB2 (Usually used for large projects)
- Cassandra (It was developed to work with enormous amounts of information)
- Oracle Database (Among the most popular for diverse platforms and scripting languages)
- Sybase (One of the most stable DBs that is suitable for both small and huge projects)
All the frameworks are designed to simplify the work via ready solutions, and those used in PHP are not an exclusion. PHP frameworks combine the functionality of both libraries and tools for adjusting while providing some other features. Thus, choosing the best framework may depend on the security or speed requirements, hierarchy model, compatibility with web applications, migrating features, size, or even syntax of the code. The list of top-7 most popular and often used PHP frameworks is presented below:
- CodeIgniter (Small, fast, easy, and have useful libraries)
- Yii (Well-secured and allows building web solutions rapidly, advanced tool)
- Zend (Advanced code customization possibilities and good external integration features)
- Laravel (Free and reliable, with an appropriate security level and migrating opportunities)
- FuelPHP (HMVC support, high-security level, upgraded command line)
- Symfony (Nice compatibility with PHP and web standards, stable and well-structured)
- Magento (Designed for dynamic websites, a perfect approach for building eCommerce)
In fact, if one fully read the previous info-block about PHP and related technologies, it will help to define the list of requirements to the potential developer. If someone skipped the last section, such a person is aware of all the specifics related to PHP and which set of technologies should have a potential employee. Testing of those aspects - it is always up to the interviewer and his or her preferences.
Even though startups can significantly vary in their scales, current recommendations are more focused on smaller businesses as bigger ones have HRs. So, if you are a co-founder who is also looking for a PHP developer, you can follow the next steps:
- Think about the duties of the future PHP engineer (back-end only or a full-stack?).
- Define the set of specific technologies like frameworks or CMSs that will be used in the project (the previous info-block should help to determine them).If you are not familiar with web development, it would be better to receive even small or friendly consultation what technology to choose.
- Make a work-plan which will help to discuss deadlines and amount of the tasks.
- Try to forecast nature and amounts of potential changes, clarify the migration process between versions.
- Plan checking and verifying process.
- And finally, define the set of soft-skills. Sometimes, it can be the hardest task as choosing the person who will understand and share your principles is very important.
It may still be a difficult task, so feel free to ask our managers about the appeared issues. Orange Sputnik operates on the market for more than 8 years, and our staff has plenty of experience to help you.
Global spreading of wages for PHP developers
According to data from Glassdoor, the highest annual salary of PHP programmer can be earned in the US and Switzerland, which are traditionally two leaders in the IT industry in terms of wages rates. Other preferable locations to live and work from is the Scandinavian region, UK, Israel, and Australia. However, it also means that all those states are tough places to develop startups, as many funds will be spent on the software part of the project. In general, annual payments for PHP coders presented on the following chart:
The chart above also shows that there are some primary locations to seek for a PHP programmer. India seems to be a perspective destination as the life level in this country is much lower, so developers require lower wages for their work. However, be ready to language barriers and a different mentality.
Another region to look at is Eastern Europe, where life is better than in India but still not so good as in the West European countries. Ukraine, Russia, and Bulgaria have vast talent pools to find appropriate PHP developer cheaper and don’t worry about the time gap with the rest of the EU.
A more detailed pitstop will be made in Ukraine, which belongs to one of the best destinations to find and employ remote PHP programmers. According to jobs.dou.ua (job portal in Ukraine), one can find a junior PHP coder starting with only about $500/month salary. The average payroll for medium-level PHP developer will be about $1400/month, while experienced Senior costs from approximately $2000 monthly.
All those attractive numbers are facilitated by the huge variety of specialists with good English and appropriate Western mentality. Nothing to say about the time gap, especially for European startuppers as the maximum deviation is only 3 hours, which makes even remote cooperation live and productive.
Orange Sputnik is always open to suggest the best Dedicated Software Developers for your business. The vast talent pool of Remote Developers and our 10+ years experience ensure the best match precisely for your needs.
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