An Ultimate Guide to Hire the Right PHP Developer
PHP is truly the lifeline of the internet we see today. Along with HTML and CSS, PHP is a pillar of the world wide web we know today. It’s not only scalable, but it is also something with which the greatest websites in the world are made of. You can easily assume by all this that finding and hiring the right PHP developer must be a piece of cake, but that’s hardly the case. The right fit for your company would be someone who would fit your budget, can handle the work, and can work as a team.
We know it’s not a lot to ask for, and there are, a lot of PHP developers available in the market. But did you know, a lot of PHP developers have switched to other deeper languages that focus on other technologies? PHP has been one of the most popular languages, but finding a good developer isn’t so simple after all. And that is why we have decided to make a guide for you, one to hire the right PHP developer for your project/company.
Here are the steps you need to think and then re-think again, to find and hire the right PHP developer for your project.
1. Determining the scale of your project
The first step for a PHP project to succeed is that you scale it properly. You need to weigh in the future prospects along with the risk and scalability for perfect analysis. Why you might ask? Because you get PHP developers with all sorts of experiences, you need to choose the best fit for your project. Hire PHP developers that fit your business, not the best or the mediocre, you will save many resources this way.
Generic projects demand lesser expertise, and you might do with any other PHP developer. But bigger projects need PHP developers who have the capability of scaling apps. Not only they need expertise, but a zeal to work with the team, it is never one man’s job in bigger projects. You will get an idea as soon as you create a requirement sheet and move along, you need to hire a team accordingly.
2. Choosing the right framework
PHP frameworks are the way to go these days. Anything you want to be done in PHP? You have a PHP framework for that. The top frameworks are Laravel and Symfony, but there are so many more. The PHP developers usually have mastery in one or more top PHP development frameworks. You can find a list of top PHP frameworks to decide which one suits you.
You need to research a bit to find the best one for your project, and then search for the developers excelling in that PHP framework. Not only will it be feasible in your pocket, but it will also ensure best practices are always followed. Choosing the right framework will also ensure that you can look forward to a much shorter time to market entry. Hiring developers for some frameworks which are not common might not be easy, but it will turn out to be worth it in the end.
3. Remote or in-office
The question is intriguing, so much so that even the top PHP development companies face it every once in a while. Top talents are usually located in areas where the top companies are. Finding an office space near the top dogs will cost significantly more than you can imagine unless you can find a solution like wework remote office space. Every top stop in the silicon cities will cost both you and your employees much more money to live and survive.
The simple answer to this is remote workers or relocation. While a very minute number of PHP developers would be looking to relocate, many of them are actually into gigs. The gig economy is flourishing for PHP developers and development, there’s simply no denying it. You can find a lot of developers being ready to work from developing countries for a fraction of cost. But it comes with a higher price, and of course the hassles of working with and managing remote PHP developers.
There seems to be no way out of this, but there is actually. You can partly hire a PHP development company to do the hard stuff. These companies usually have the top developers and managers set into extremely coherent teams. Another typical choice is if you have to maintain and update your app/website regularly, you should actually go towards hiring in house developers, no matter the extra cost.
4. Project management
It’s all about if your project can be managed with a level of experience of workers you are looking for. Top-level PHP developers are easier to manage, they could do the tasks all day. But the same is exactly the opposite for beginners and typically somewhere in the middle for others. The point is so important to hire dedicated PHP developer for your project, they will need a project manager to guide them.
Splitting a job into tasks is a great way of working, only if there is someone who can glue all the bits. You hire top experienced developers and you pay more, the lesser the experience the lesser the pay. That’s a common notion, however, you should rather make a budget and balance it accordingly. If you are planning for low experience developers, hire a highly experienced project manager. The cost will be somewhat the same, but a good project manager will be the key to the success of your project.
