Hiring PHP Developers: Best Practices & Job Description Template

PHP is undoubtedly the most popular web development language among developers on the internet. Despite it first appearing in 1995, it is still being used on more than 75% of websites. What is behind PHP’s enduring popularity?

• It has been flexible enough to adapt to most web applications
• It doesn’t have any licensing costs
• Its time in the market has brought the development of many frameworks for PHP
• PHP has a simple and intuitive base language which is part of many university’s curriculum for web developers and programmers.

As it’s the most popular web development language, it follows that there are a lot of PHP developers. This results in a plethora of candidates to choose from, which can make finding the perfect developer, a very time-consuming task. To help you out, we have created a list of best practices to hire PHP developers and a PHP developer job description template that you can follow to ensure you find the perfect fit for you and your business. And remember - the Pangea universe makes it easy to find the right fit for you, your team, and your project. If you need help selecting the right company, tell us what you need. We can do the work for you and connect you with up to 5 companies within 72h that match your need- all for free.

Step 1: Write down your requirements

As mentioned above, you can achieve anything with PHP, but this also translates into a wide variety of developer skills that can focus on very different aspects of market requirements. It is important to understand and evaluate your project’s complexity and requirements so you can find a PHP developer who can offer a skillset tailored to your project’s necessities.

Enlisting and becoming aware of requirements will help you to understand what kind of PHP developer would be the right fit for your projects. The following would be important points to consider:

• The preferred PHP frameworks (CodeIgniter, Laravel, CakePHP, etc)
• Which PHP servers will be used (Apache, Nginx, etc)
• Which web host is being considered (managed like GoDaddy or unmanaged like AWS)
• Which database fits best with the project (SQL or NoSQL)
• Which version control software is to be used
• Architecture (MVC or any other)

Step 2: Learn about PHP basics, frameworks, and trends

Gone are the days when the core PHP was ruling the internet. There are a lot of PHP frameworks available which you should also know about. This will give you the advantage of evaluating your candidates more thoroughly.

Some frameworks are specifically built for e-commerce websites, such as Magento and OpenCart. There are also all-in-one frameworks like CodeIgnitor and Laravel, which are suitable for any kind of website. Learning about PHP frameworks will give you a better understanding of which framework will be best for your projects.

Learning the basics of PHP -or any programming language desired for a project- is also recommendable when possible. This knowledge could prove critical to saving time and money by adequately assessing the skills of the developers that are being considered.

Last but not least, have some knowledge about PHP trends as well. Given its long time in the market, PHP has seen many iterations, changes, and additions, Awareness of the latest developments in the implementation of PHP will help you recognize what solution is going to be the most efficient in accomplishing what you need. Here are some useful PHP resources if you want to stay up to date.

Step 3: List the must-have skills for your new PHP developer

Once you’re done with the above steps, it’s time to list any additional skills that you might require from the developer, such as MySQL knowledge which normally goes hand in hand with PHP development.

Given that PHP is a server-side language: knowledge of front-end technologies, such as CSS or JavaScript, can also prove to be a desired skill set if you wish the developer to deliver a full-fledged project with pixel-perfect UI.

Finally, the portfolio is another essential factor to consider when evaluating your candidate. This should show you if the developer’s previous experience relates directly to the projects you have lined up. If you want to develop an e-commerce site, the candidate with previous e-commerce experience will probably be more desirable than a candidate with twice that experience but only in analytics.

When you have decided what you are looking for in your developers, remember, if you need help selecting the right company, tell us what you need. We can do the work for you and connect you with up to 5 companies within 72h that match your need- all for free.

Step 4: Set your budget

This is one of the most important points to keep in mind. Most projects come with a fixed budget, and it will be important to align this to the development costs, which could extend beyond just the developer's salary. Likewise, developers also come in a wide range of prices depending on their skill offerings.

Find your perfect PHP developer

A compelling job description can become the most crucial element to connecting with the right PHP developer for your project.

In my personal experience, when I apply for a PHP job, the more elaborate and descriptive job descriptions always catch my eye first because they offer more insight into the company and position, much like my portfolio offers them insight into my capacities.

The PHP job description should include points about what the PHP developer is expected to deliver and what role he/she is going to play in the team/company. The job of a PHP developer can include a lot of tasks and involve a high level of decision-making skills. For example, they might be required to decide on the PHP framework, whether the database should be SQL, or at what stage changes will be deployed on the production server once the PHP code is ready and tested; just to name a few scenarios. It will be important to mention in the job description how much autonomy they’ll have to make said decisions.

We have created a simple and easy-to-use template for a PHP developer job description, which you can feel free to adapt and modify to better reflect your vacancy, your company culture, and showcase all the qualifications and embellishments you can’t wait to see on your candidate’s applications.

A perfect PHP job description template should include the following points:

Company Introduction

This is the first thing you should mention. It includes what you or the company do, what they can expect from the work culture, any perks/benefits, office hours, job location, and any other important points.

Job Brief or Job Description

You should mention what type of projects a developer can expect. What will be the primary focus for the developer? What challenges might the developer expect to face?

Responsibilities

I would suggest you keep this in bullet form. It should include all the responsibilities that the developer will be given like server-side coding, front-end coding, and any other tech that your project needs.

Requirements

This section includes the minimum requirements the developer should meet to be eligible for the next round of hiring. This can include years of experience, required frameworks, qualifications, and so on.

Hiring the perfect developer is a time-consuming task. If you follow some of the best practices to create a perfect job description using the PHP developer job description template below, then you should be able to find the candidate that best suits your needs. You can make changes as needed but the template includes all the basic points that a job description should have. Good luck on your journey to hire your new PHP developer!

PHP Developer Job description Template

Overview (Company Introduction)

Example Technology Group is one of the largest technology providers in our industry. With years of experience developing and giving maintenance to e-commerce sites, our products are used by tens of thousands of users every day. We pride ourselves on being highly regarded for our focused user experience and reliable application platform.

We are looking for passionate and qualified PHP developers to join our ranks. You will make up a key part of our core engineering team, working to build and maintain high-quality applications. We want a PHP developer as passionate about creating high-quality apps and databases as we are and someone willing to work across disciplines to make them happen.

The Role (Job Brief)

We are looking for a developer with Laravel framework experience. The ideal candidate will have experience in e-commerce databases and interfaces. A portfolio of related experience to demonstrate will be considered a significant bonus.

Strong working knowledge of the Laravel ecosystem is a must, as is experience with CSS, HTML5 JavaScript, or other front-end technologies and templating systems.

If you’re passionate about performance and obsessive over OOP, we want to hear from you! We want a team member who can turn code into user-friendly apps for our clients. As a PHP developer, you’ll collaborate with internal teams to develop highly functional e-commerce applications in a fast-paced environment.

Requirements

• PHP frameworks required: Laravel
• Portfolio projects: e-commerce
• Experience in NoSQL databases
• Understanding of OOP (Object Oriented Programming)
• Proficient with code version controlling (Git, SVN, or any other software which you use)
• Knowledge of front-end technologies like CSS, JavaScript, HTML5, or any other templating system (like Blade in Laravel)

Responsibilities

• Write PHP code and deploy new features on the server
• Code testing
• Follow PHP framework architectures like MVC
• Deploy the PHP code on the server
• Create a pipeline for version controlling
• Front end design
• PHP template creation

Why Work for Us

We value teamwork, innovation, and a passion for solving difficult problems. We provide employee benefits such as flexible working, competitive compensation, remote work, and a culture that values continued professional development.

To join our team, get in touch at the contact details below and show us what makes you the ideal candidate for us.