PHP Developers Hiring Guide

The Most Popular Language for Web Development

PHP Hypertext Preprocessor is a powerful open-source, server-side scripting language. Developers can use it to create immersive and robust web pages and web applications as well as to build web content management systems, GUI-based applications, and image processing/data representation tools.

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Even though it was created in 1984, PHP is still one of the most proficient and efficient scripting languages used today. It’s fast, flexible, and allows for a seamless application development experience. It has a convenient deployment and release cycle. Its MVC architecture allows you to easily upgrade and maintain any web application. You can also use PHP with a variety of relational databases.

PHP, however, does have its shortcomings. Bad code integration and inefficient coding layouts can cause problems in repositories. Even though it has automation features to ensure faster development, they can cause performance issues if not implemented properly. Also, many developers consider PHP to be inherently insecure.

But even in spite of these shortcomings, PHP is still one of the fastest and most flexible languages in the market. It’s agile and has various comprehensive frameworks for building all sorts of applications. That’s why PHP is still used in 79.2% of surveyed websites worldwide. PHP is also the most liked language for server-side development, followed by ASP.NET and Ruby.

How difficult is it to find good PHP developers?

PHP developers are key to the overall journey of using PHP and developing applications through it. They write code, execute/test it, and supervise results and reports. Finding a good PHP developer is difficult, but telling whether that developer actually knows PHP is even harder.

That’s because even though the barrier to entry in this market is low, it takes years for advanced PHP developers to properly hone their skills. That can lead, for example, to finding a fairly experienced PHP developer that may not have experience with the framework you’re working with. That means you have to spend additional resources on training them before they can get started on your project.

How to choose a PHP developer for your project?

Choosing an accountable PHP developer might appear a difficult task to accomplish, but there are certain qualities that you can look for. A good PHP developer should have good coding abilities along with the analytical aptitude to tackle the issues that may arise from a wide array of project types.

They should be well-versed with the aspects and coding models of PHP. They should also have in-depth knowledge of SQL/MySQL databases as well as have experience with other programming languages such as JavaScript. Additionally, you can check their Object-oriented programming (OOP) fundamentals.

For detailed knowledge, you can also check for proficiency in frameworks such as Symphony and YII 2. You can also assess their content management system administration proficiency with tools such as Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla. If you review all those, there is a high probability that you can find an efficient PHP developer.

If you want further help to hire a PHP developer, here's a list of questions you can ask to check their knowledge.

Conclusion

PHP is undoubtedly one of the most precise and effective open-source scripting languages. It allows great flexibility to developers and is cross-platform, i.e., it can be used to create a variety of projects on different platforms. To hire a skilled PHP developer, you have to perform comprehensive vetting to check fundamentals as well as advanced skills.

What’s the difference between ECHO and PRINT in PHP?

ECHO has no return value, whereas PRINT returns the value as one, and that’s why PRINT can be used in expressions. ECHO can handle multiple parameters, whereas PRINT can handle only one function or argument.

What are abstract classes and interfaces and how do they differ?

An abstract class is a class that has at least one method marked with keyword abstract i.e. that method doesn’t have any actual code definitions. It just has names/parameters and is used for inheritance. Interfaces are defined just like classes but with the interface keyword. Interfaces are like fully abstract classes and to use an interface, a class has to “implement” that particular interface.

The interface can’t acquire properties in PHP, while classes can. Interface methods must be public, whereas abstract classes can be protected or public. For abstract classes, keyword abstract is necessary, which isn’t required by interfaces. The interface supports multiple inheritance, abstract classes don't. Also, interfaces can’t access modifiers, whereas abstract classes can.

What changed from PHP5 to PHP7?

PHP7 offered more features than PHP5. PHP5 worked on Zend II engine whereas PHP7 works on PHPNG (PHP NextGen). PHP5 couldn’t define return types for functions, but PHP7 fixed that, allowing programmers to return values from functions.

PHP7 also improved features like error handling and exceptions, allowing both traditional exception handling(same as in PHP5, gives a fatal error if an exception is not defined) and engine exception handling (for all the errors that were not defined as an exception in PHP5).

What are some of the major attributes of PHP?

Major attributes of PHP include classes, methods, functions, and closures. Users can create diversified objects using classes and create methods (functions) in them. Closures work as synonyms as they can take values from different functions without inheriting the variables.

What is PEAR in PHP?

PHP Extension and Application Repository (PEAR) is a fundamental framework of PHP. It provides standards and structure for coding in PHP. The purpose of PEAR is to improve the efficiency of reusable elements. It encompasses 3 basic parts- PEAR Core Components, General PEAR Packages, and diversified PECL Packages.

We are looking for PHP Developers to join our Development team and participate in different team projects. We are looking for team players who can handle being a part of a passionate team. It is an excellent opportunity for individuals looking to grow their skills and are result-oriented to provide the best experience to clients.

Responsibilities

Developing platform services and adding features
Building scalable and reusable code modules.
Should be able to build large-scale solutions and solve complex problems.
Be involved in all the meetings involved in the designing and creation of the final product.
Troubleshoot and maintain the product
Follow Best practices and standards

Skills and Qualifications

Knowledge of Different PHP frameworks and understanding of how they work (Yii. Laravel, Zend)
Proven knowledge of different front end languages - CSS, HTML5, JS
Experience in Open-Source projects (Joomla, WordPress) and project design principles.
Experience with database integration and handling.
Knowledge of Code versioning Tools (Git)
Integration knowledge of Third Party APIs
Collaboration with different teams and stakeholders for creating the final product