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How to Hire the Right PHP Developer

 

So, Before getting started, here are some tips and tricks on how to find highly qualified PHP developers.

 

 

Tips on finding and evaluating skilled PHP developers

The following competencies are all green flags when you’re looking for a PHP developer:

 

Previously worked with SQL or MySQL databases;
Has prior knowledge on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript;
Experienced working with PHP frameworks such as, Laravel, Symphony, and YII2;
Has a thorough understanding of content management systems (CMS) like Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress; and,
Has a working knowledge of object-oriented programming (OOP).

Of course, the right PHP developer should also have the following soft skills:


Effective communication;
Project management;
Mutual collaboration;
Time management;
Proactive problem solving.

Soft skills like critical thinking are particularly vital for a PHP developer because they should be able to create detailed plans and carry them out to completion.

 

 

The role of technical interviews and coding tests

 

Technical interviews help you determine whether someone has the right qualifications for the job or not.

You also get to assess their ability to think under pressure and in various situations.

However, interviews can be time-consuming.

Thus, it’s often better to let a staffing agency—like Remote Staff—handle this part of the hiring process for you…

…unless you already know the right answers to the following questions that are typically posed during a PHP developer’s interview:

 

  • What are the many forms of errors in PHP?
  • What’s the difference between include, require, require once, and include once ()?
  • What is the difference between the functions unset () and unlink ()?
  • What is a PHP session, and how is it any different from a cookie?

 

You can also further examine the applicant’s knowledge through a coding test.

Since you’re outsourcing, you can choose to conduct a multiple choice exam, project-based assignments (that are grounded in real-world problems), or even a live coding exam.

Just make sure that you have prior knowledge and an in-depth understanding of how these codes work.

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Cost-Effectiveness of PHP Development

 

There are indeed a lot of programming languages to choose from when building a website.

However, when you think about what web development entails (custom design, hiring qualified developers, and the length of the project), the costs will eventually add up depending on the language you pick.

So what advantages does PHP have over other programming languages?

 

PHP’s open source nature reducing development costs

First, PHP is a cost-efficient solution for many small- to medium-sized businesses due to its open source nature.

Entrepreneurs basically do not have to pay for licensing costs.

Further, it’s relatively easy to find solutions should your PHP developer run into problems.

There are a lot of resources available online, which further reduces the development costs.

Deployed correctly, PHP also gives you a website that loads faster, which translates to a better customer experience.

 

 

Availability of PHP developers and competitive pricing

Around 77% of the world’s websites are made using PHP—which means there’s definitely a demand for PHP developers.

Yet, hiring a full-time in-house employee can be expensive because you’ll need to provide them with mandatory benefits on top of their salary package.

Thus, IT outsourcing can be a cost-effective solution for your web development needs.

You can, of course, start the recruitment process yourself.

However, finding the right PHP developer can be time-consuming when you could have been focusing on growing your business.

A viable solution would be partnering with a staffing agency, Remote Staff, which can handle it all for you.

 

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The Popularity and Versatility of PHP

 

Is PHP a popular programming language?

Why do many software developers use it instead of other languages?

 

 

PHP’s widespread use in web development

 

PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world, and for several reasons:

 

It is open source. - As previously mentioned, PHP doesn’t have any licensing fees. Solutions are also easy to find online should your PHP developer come across issues in their coding.

It is fairly straightforward to use. - There is less of a learning curve when using PHP (as long as you already know the C programming language). It is flexible. — If you hire a full-stack developer, they can use PHP along with other programming languages with relative ease.

It is flexible. - If you hire a full-stack developer, they can use PHP along with other programming languages with relative ease.

It has built-in database connection modules. - These modules help in connecting with databases (like MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL) to reduce development time for web applications and content-based sites.

It has excellent security. - PHP has security features against cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection attacks. Your PHP developer can further enhance the security by using security-related extensions and libraries.

It is fast. - PHP makes website optimization for a great user experience easier.

Examples of popular platforms built with PHP

 

If you need further convincing about hiring a PHP developer, here are some of the most popular websites built using PHP:

 

Facebook - This online social networking giant has around 2 billion users per month. Facebook has taken advantage of PHP’s speed to generate dynamic content within seconds since 2004. Because of this, other websites started to adopt PHP too.

Wikipedia - PHP is used for Wikipedia’s backend development (along with MySQL).

Slack - One of the more popular communication tools, Slack uses PHP to bring their request time up to speed while minimizing program defects.

WordPress - The largest content management website uses PHP to access databases and fetch data. As such, millions of WordPress users can easily create their websites from the readily available templates despite having little to no coding background.

MailChimp - MailChimp uses PHP in their backend development for its scalability.

Yahoo - PHP used to power Yahoo’s Mail, Answer, and News.

Spotify - The continuous use of PHP makes it possible for Spotify users to access millions of songs within seconds.

 

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PHP’s Scalability and Performance

You already know how widespread the use of PHP is.

So, let’s take a closer look at this programming language’s scalability and performance.

 

 

 

How PHP Supports Scalable Web Applications

 

As your website grows, it should be able to handle the increased traffic without slowing down or crashing.

Fortunately, PHP is designed to run quickly and efficiently, reducing server load and response times, especially when it’s updated to the latest version.

PHP frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter provide programmers with tools and patterns for facilitating scalable software development.

It also works with caching systems like Memcached or Redis which stores frequently used data in memory so they can be easily accessed.

In addition, PHP applications also use asynchronous processing techniques that don’t need immediate processing, allowing the main application to focus on serving user requests.

Finally, these applications can run on multiple servers, so your PHP developers can add more servers to share the load when traffic increases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Performance Optimization Capabilities in PHP

 

There are many ways PHP developers can optimize their applications. These include:

 

  • Writing optimized code: Techniques like code profiling, optimizing database queries, minimising file I/O operations, and using efficient algorithms significantly improves their application’s performance.

     

  • Opcode Caching: Using caching tools like Zend OPcache and APCu to store compiled opcodes in memory reduces the overhead of parsing and compiling PHP code on each request, leading to significant performance improvements.

     

  • Database Optimization: Database operations constitute a significant part of a PHP application’s workload. Thus, by optimizing data queries, indexing, and caching query results PHP developers can significantly boost their app’s overall performance.

     

  • Web Server Configuration: Using techniques like enabling gzip compression, leveraging cache headers, and fine-tuning server parameters boosts response time and decreases server load.

     

  • PHP Configuration Optimization: PHP developers can further optimize their app’s performance by familiarizing themselves with important PHP settings (php.ini) and adjusting them as needed.

 

 

 

PHP’s Compatibility and Integration

 

Another reason for PHP’s widespread use is its compatibility and integration capabilities, making it a versatile and powerful choice for building various web applications and services.

 

 

 

How PHP Supports Scalable Web Applications

 

PHP is a cross-platform programming language, thus, it can run on various OSs like Windows, Linux, macOS, and Unix-based systems. Because of this, PHP developers only need to code once and deploy it across platforms without significant modifications.

Also, PHP is compatible with most web servers commonly used in web development like Microsoft IIS, Apache, Nginx, and LiteSpeed. This allows PHP developers to select the server environment that suits their needs.

In addition, PHP offers robust support for interacting with various database systems, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and Oracle.

PHP-generated HTML content is also compatible with all modern browsers, ensuring they render correctly across different browsers and devices.

 

 

Ease of Integration With Other Technologies

 

Another advantage of using PHP is it integrates with various web frameworks and libraries like Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, and Yii. These frameworks provide pre-built components, tools, and conventions to help PHP developers develop their apps.

Aside from this, PHP apps can also integrate with third-party APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to access external services, retrieve data, and perform other tasks.

It can also be integrated with server-side technologies like JavaScript, Python, and Java, to enable interoperability between programming languages.

Finally, PHP apps can leverage cloud services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure for hosting, storage, and other functionalities.

 

 

 

PHP for Rapid Deployment

 

Today, having a good website or app enables your business to reach out to more potential customers so you can grow your business.

However, it can be challenging to make one on relatively short notice.

Fortunately, this isn’t the case if you’re using PHP to build your website.

 

PHP’s Features That Enable Rapid Development and Deployment

 

PHP offers several features for facilitating the rapid deployment and development of websites and apps. These include:

 

Ease of Learning and Use: PHP’s syntax is relatively simple and easy to learn, especially for those familiar with C-style languages. This enables even novice PHP developers to build apps without a steep learning curve.

Frameworks: Frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter provide a structured foundation for building websites and apps. They include pre-built modules, libraries, and other tools to streamline development.

Composer: This dependency management tool simplifies library and package management in PHP projects, enabling developers to easily integrate third-party libraries, manage dependencies, and keep them updated.

Built-in Web Server: PHP’s built-in development server helps developers quickly set up a local development environment. This is especially useful for setting up quick trials during development, as it removes the need to configure a full web server.

Cloud Hosting and Containerization: PHP’s compatibility with major cloud hosting providers and support for containerization tools like Docker improves deployment flexibility and scalability.

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, and Travis CI automate the build, trial, and deployment processes and ensure code changes are quickly and reliably pushed to production.

 

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Security in PHP Development

 

A crucial part of PHP development is ensuring your website or app is secure from cyber-attacks.

Here’s how PHP developers secure your website from these threats:

 

 

Built-in Security Features of PHP

 

Aside from being beginner-friendly, PHP has innate security features that help developers create secure websites and apps. These are:

  • Prepared Statements: When your website talks to a database to get or save information, PHP can help keep these conversations secure. It separates instructions from data, so hackers can’t directly mess with the database.

     

  • Password Hashing: Instead of simply storing passwords as they are, PHP can scramble them into a secret code so that even if someone hacks your website, they can’t easily use these.

     

  • Session Management: Logging in to a website creates a session so it can remember who you are. PHP has tools to help you manage these sessions securely, making it harder for hackers to impersonate you.

     

  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Protection: Sometimes, hackers may try to put harmful code into websites. PHP helps stop this by converting characters into safe versions before revealing them on your website, preventing harmful scripts from running.

     

  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF Protection): PHP can include a secret code when you do things on the website, like filing forms, to ensure the request is coming from you and not someone impersonating you.

     

  • Configuration Options: PHP allows you to adjust settings to make them more secure, such as turning off features that may expose sensitive information.

     

 

Best Practices for Secure PHP Development

 

Aside from relying on PHP’s innate security features, developers can further secure the website or app they’re developing through the following measures:

  • Check and Clean User Input: Ensure the information people enter into the website is correct and safe. This also removes any harmful parts from the input.

     

  • Talk to the Database Safely: When your website needs to get or save information in a database, use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks.

     

  • Store Passwords Securely: Mask your passwords with secure codes before storing them.

     

  • Protect User Sessions: Create a secure session when users log in and regularly change session IDs to prevent hijacking.

     

  • Stop Bad Scripts: When displaying information that users entered, convert it to a safe format first to stop harmful scripts from running.

     

  • Use HTTPS: Always use HTTPS to ensure the information sent between users and your website remains encrypted and secure.

     



Setting up a website for your business can be challenging if your team lacks the necessary technical skills.

Fortunately, you can hire a dedicated online PHP developer to help build your website or application.

They’re more cost-effective than other full-stack developers, and PHP offers various benefits like versatility, scalability, cross-platform compatibility, security features, and rapid development.

If you prefer hiring skilled full-time PHP developers rather than freelancers, boost your hiring strategy by working with a tried and tested company like Remote Staff.




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