Hire Dedicated PHP Developers to Tell Your Brand's Story With Lines of Code

When looking to hire PHP Developer, many people struggle with finding the right skills for their job. To help you find your perfect match and make a successful business decision we’ve picked out five core skill sets that are important.

1. Open To Learning & Expanding Knowledge
2. Expertise that goes beyond the basics
3. Knowledge of other programming languages
4. Easily adaptable to changes in PHP
5. Ability to solve problems
6. An excellent work ethic

This server-side scripting language is the foundation for any developer. The PHP script is used by 78.9% of all the websites on the internet. So it’s almost mandatory for all developers to be familiar with the script.

Top Skills to Assess when Hiring a PHP Developer

PHP can never be used as a stand-alone language. It works in tandem with other languages on the client-side to form a functioning website.

If you’re looking for full-stack PHP developers, test their grasp over Javascript, CSS, and HTML. This will allow developers to build both a functional and user-friendly website.

As with any web developer, hire PHP programmers who are good at problem-solving. Quick and critical thinking will be vital to delivering projects on time.

Hire dedicated PHP developers who have experience working with Ajax, jQuery, and MySQL. Being comfortable with databases like MySQL implies that the developer has well-rounded skills. This will certainly be an asset to your team.

Lastly, the PHP developer has to have good communication skills. This is especially necessary if you’re looking for remote PHP developers for your team.

On top of these skills, you should also test their technical knowledge before you hire a PHP developer. Here are the 5 top technical questions to ask them.

Top 5 Technical Interview Questions when Hiring a PHP Developer

1. What is PEAR in PHP?
   Expect the following: 

   Standing for the PHP Extension and Application Repository, PEAR is a library of open-source code for PHP developers. PEAR provides reusable components that make development easier. PEAR is one of the fundamentals of PHP. If a PHP developer isn’t aware of PEAR, you can expect them to take excessive time to finish a project.

2. What is the OOPs concept and what are its Principles in PHP?
   The following answer would be ideals:
   OOP is a programming approach where there’s an emphasis on data and its associated functions. With the rising importance of data, OOP is becoming an essential concept.In PHP, OOPs help to make the code easier to maintain and modify. PHP has six OOP concepts – Class, Objects, Inheritance, Interface, Abstraction, and Magic Methods.
3. What is a closure in PHP? Why is it used?
   Also known as an anonymous function, a closure is a function that can be created without a specific name. Closure gives you access to an outer function’s limit from an inner function.The closure function was introduced in PHP 5.3 and is most widely used for the callback function. It is especially useful when accessing higher-order functions.
4. What are the differences between $message and $$message?
   Expect the following answer:$message is a regular variable whereas $$message is a reference variable. $message stores a fixed data value and has a fixed name. However, the $$message stores data about the variable. So the $$message changes when the variable does.
5. What are the rules for naming variables in PHP?
   These are 5 rules for naming variables in PHP. 

   – All variables start with the ‘$’ symbol followed by the name.
   – The variable name must start with the ‘_’ symbol or a letter
   – The name cannot have spaces
   – Variable names can only contain alphanumeric values or an underscore. No other characters may be used.
   –  Variable names are case sensitive

Since variables are what store data in a program, this is a fundamental concept you should look for when hiring a dedicated PHP programmer.

But beyond technical PHP prowess, you should hire PHP web developers who also have good problem-solving skills. Coding doesn’t have to be their forte. But if they’re able to showcase a presence of mind, you shouldn’t discount that PHP web developer.

Top 5 Exploratory Interview Questions when Hiring a PHP Developer

A key factor to understand here is that there are no right or wrong answers. These questions are asked merely to understand what the PHP developer is as a person.

1. What was the most challenging problem you faced when developing a PHP code and how did you solve it?
   

   This is a roundabout way of asking what their least favorite part of PHP web development is. By this, you can gauge what the candidate believes is their weakness.

   The answer to how they overcame the challenge will reveal to you their way of working. See what resource they consulted for help, or if they gave up and passed on the challenge to someone else.

2. What is the largest application you’ve ever worked on? Explain some of the key concepts of it.
   The answer to this question will tell you the extent of skill the potential PHP web developer hire has. The concepts of the application will show you the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.

   And the confidence they show in the answer will also reveal how big of a part the candidate had in developing that program.

3. Is there a programming language that you wish you’d learned?
   If they say yes, your follow-up question should be if they’ve made any efforts to learn the language. If they have started learning other programming languages, you can tell that the candidate is adaptable and resourceful.

   If they say no, then that may reveal that the potential hire has no interests besides PHP. This, in itself, would be a problem as just knowing PHP isn’t sufficient.

4. Is PHP web development your long-term goal?
   Their answer to this question will tell you what the candidate’s long-term goals are. It’s okay if it’s just in PHP development. But you should follow up by asking how they plan to improve their skills in PHP web development.

   You don’t want to hire PHP developers who indicate that they’re going to be stagnant employees.

5. Apart from PHP, what would you say you’re best at?
   The answer to this doesn’t have to be about web development. But if they do talk about other programming languages they’re good at, then you can gauge their technical skills beyond PHP.

   But if they talk about extra-curricular activities, then you’ll be able to tell what the candidate is like outside of the office. This information would open up information about the temperament of the candidate.

   These questions will help you get a well-rounded opinion about the candidate. Go through this list to hire top PHP developers.

As you’re browsing available candidates, a shortlist of PHP coders is a great way to narrow down your options for finding the right talent. You may want to screen profiles on criteria such as:

A good fit with technology.
Hire PHP Programmer who is familiar with the libraries and frameworks found in your technology stack.

Workflow of the developer.
It would be advantageous for the developer to be familiar with any project management tools, test suites, or version control systems you use.

Feedback.
Look for glowing testimonials or potential red flags in the reviews of past clients to get an idea of how a particular PHP developer works.