How to Hire PHP Developers: A Practical Guide on Finding the Right Talent

If you rely on job boards and freelancer platforms to hire PHP developers, you compete with hundreds of other businesses while sifting through applicants who might not even meet your requirements. Even after you hire someone, you’re left wondering: Will they deliver quality code? Will they meet deadlines? Will they stick around?

Finding PHP developers shouldn't be a source of stress. In this guide, we will share the best strategies to find experienced, trustworthy, and affordable specialists. This will help you save time and money while ensuring your project's success.

Stfalcon has 15 years of experience in software development and is known for providing excellent PHP solutions. PHP is our main area of expertise. Over the years, we have built a team of skilled developers who have worked on projects of various sizes and complexities. We don’t just know how to hire PHP developers — we know what makes a great one. Today, we want to share the insights we’ve gathered with you. From this article, you can find out:

• What recruitment channels provide the quickest and most risk-free results
• How to attract experienced specialists with the initial job descriptions
• What is the process of assessing candidates' technical skills and much more.

Where to Find PHP Developers

Finding the right PHP developer can feel like navigating a complex maze with many paths and possible setbacks. Where should you begin? And how can you avoid wasting valuable time and energy? Let's explore how to find top PHP developers and the crucial factors to consider when using each method.

Job Boards & Freelance Platforms

Job boards and freelance platforms offer a vast pool of candidates but require careful filtering. While looking for specialists here in Ukraine, we find Djinni the most effective platform to hire PHP developers; for a global talent search, platforms like We Work Remotely or Stack Overflow Jobs work great. Freelance platforms like Upwork or Toptal are also an option, but it may not be for you if you want to fill an in-house opening. Many specialists are not ready to work on long-term projects. However, if you need a contractor for a specific period, like a six-month project, working with freelance PHP developers could be a good option.

To avoid low-quality applicants, use specific keywords related to your tech stack (e.g., “Laravel API developer,” “Symfony security”). Prioritize candidates with detailed portfolios and verified reviews. Conduct thorough initial screenings and test tasks to assess technical proficiency. Be prepared to invest time in sifting through numerous applications.

Social Media

Direct outreach via LinkedIn and social media channels remains among the most effective ways to find PHP developers. Utilize LinkedIn's search filters to look for candidates with those special skills and experience. Become a member of online communities and forums to meet these developers. These methods let you reach out directly, but you must be involved and plan your outreach strategies.

Networking Referrals

These are some of the best ways to find PHP developers. This is especially true for senior developers, who often avoid job posting sites but respond well when contacted directly. Using your professional network can help you find strong candidates known for getting things done. On the downside, this method can be slow. It relies on existing networks and word-of-mouth validation. Networking and referrals work well for specialized jobs because experience and reputation are more important in these roles.

Working with a Dedicated PHP Development Company

Partnering with a dedicated development company helps streamline efficiency and reduce risk. Companies like Stfalcon allow you to access vetted, capable, dedicated PHP developers almost immediately. You will not have to spend time or guess on screening and interviewing them yourself, giving you time to confidently get back to your priorities.

Moreover, an established PHP development company will function as a quality assurance partner. This means they have guaranteed the skill level of their developers and their reliability as a vendor. Finding candidates with a high level of certainty on your own can be very difficult. This is especially true if you don't understand PHP development well. If a developer could not keep pace for reasons beyond their control or lacked performance, your process would allow for quick replacements with no wasted time.

This level of risk is reassuring for development projects that are complex or have tight deadlines. By hiring a service development company, you can focus on the project with the sense that the PHP development process will be handled by qualified partners who work with others regularly. They plan to create a better and more scalable product. This will help you accelerate the development process and more easily achieve your business objectives.

Most notably, learning how to find PHP developers with the skills and experience suited to your project's needs is an integral part of developing a successful product. If you feel comfortable doing the direct hiring yourself, let’s talk about how to do that. In this way, you can hire the right team for your project.

Effective Hiring Process: From Job Description to Interviews

A streamlined hiring process minimizes delays and ensures you secure top talent efficiently. Here is how we usually organize the process of hiring PHP developers at Stfalcon:

• Initial screening: The recruiter carefully checks resumes and portfolios. They look for technical skills and relevant project experience.
• First interview: A recruiter meets with a potential candidate for an initial interview. They assess their basic formal qualifications, communications skills and how they might fit in with the culture of the organization. We normally also do an English check at this time, as we are typically looking for our candidates to have at least a B1 level of English proficiency.
• Test task: We assign a practical test task to evaluate the candidate's coding abilities and problem-solving skills. The task should be completed in several hours, but a general rule is to give candidates several business days to finish it. During the technical interview, there is also an option of replacing a test task with a live coding challenge.
• Technical interview: Once a tech specialist from our team reviews the candidate’s test task and approves, we invite the candidate to the technical interview. During it, a senior team member should assess in-depth technical knowledge and experience.
• Decision and offer: A responsible manager (usually a CTO for developers) makes the final hiring decision. If it is positive, the company extends the offer to the candidate.
• Onboarding: When a candidate accepts our offer, we will start a clear onboarding process. This includes introducing them to team members, giving an overview of projects, and providing access to the tools they need.

Now, let’s talk about the main stages of a hiring process in details to find out what you should pay special attention to.

Crafting Effective Job Descriptions

Before hiring a PHP developer, you need to create a clear and detailed job description.Be specific about the technical skills you want — such as being familiar with PHP frameworks (Laravel, Symfony), knowledge of database platforms (MySQL, PostgreSQL) or REST APIs — then also be specific about what you want when you list technologies (comfort with, familiarity with, suggested to learn). Provide a synopsis of what the candidate will be doing in their projects and what kind of problems they’ll need to resolve. This will help prospective hires be clear about the position you are asking for, as well as, self-select.

Additionally, list soft skills like communication abilities and adaptability to distributed teams. Highlight any project-specific needs or business requirements. Instead of using vague terms, use real-world examples of tasks they will handle, like "building secure APIs" or "optimizing database queries." This ensures that candidates fully understand the role and its expectations.

Remember that while you are looking for the best candidate, they are looking for the best company to join, so make sure you present your company most attractively. Describe your business and the projects you are working on. Highlight your strengths and your most notable achievements. You probably want to avoid cliches like “productive environment” or “family-like atmosphere.” Instead, focus on specific perks you offer that make you stand out as an employer.

Here’s an example of how we do it at Stfalcon: in Ukraine, we are known as developers of an Air Raid Alert app, used by millions of Ukrainian residents daily, and projects for big Ukrainian businesses that make a considerable input in the economy. When we look for developers in Ukraine, we highlight the chance to work on projects that make a real difference in people’s lives in our country. This helps us both offer additional value to the candidates and make sure we attract people who share the same values as we do.

Screening Resumes and Portfolios

When reviewing resumes, focus on candidates who have experience in PHP and the necessary frameworks. Look for specific achievements that show how they solve problems or contribute to important projects. At Stfalcon, our recruiter looks for candidates with relevant education. While a technical degree is not always required, having one is definitely a plus. It is always good to know about a candidate’s previous projects and whether they have experience in a relevant industry.

Portfolios or GitHub repositories show a strong understanding of coding best practices and how to make code scalable. If a candidate shares examples of their work, ask your tech specialist to check the quality of the code. Look for code that is clear and easy to maintain, as well as proper testing practices like unit or integration tests. A strong portfolio should show a variety of projects, such as developing APIs, creating e-commerce apps, or working on optimization tasks. It should also reflect the candidate’s personal growth, like contributions to open-source projects.

Recruiter Interview

During the initial interview, the recruiter can make the first impression of the candidate and ask them the most critical questions about their experience and proficiency. The main goal is to understand whether an applicant will fit the team well and assess their soft skills. Now, let’s talk about what exactly we are looking for.

First impressions

The first thing we want to observe during the interview is whether the candidate expresses any interest in the job they are interviewing for. It is a good sign if an applicant shows interest in the interview by preparing, looking for simple information about the company, or checking out the website. Stfalcon’s recruitment specialists always pay attention to the applicant's interest in talking; for example, is the applicant willing to speak to the recruiter and elaborate on their resume? If the applicant does not appear engaged in the conversation, offers very few answers like “yes” or “no,” and simply does not want to talk, this is an obvious indication that they may not be very interested in our job offer or that they do not possess the communication skills to fit in with the team.

Communication & Ability to Work in Distributed Teams

These days, working remotely has become the norm. Developers who can communicate their ideas effectively, ask the right questions, and provide regular updates will help all parties involved coordinate better. If communication is lacking, projects can fail. A good communicator will keep the project on track. During the first interview, the recruiter can evaluate a candidate's communication skills by having them explain a difficult technical topic to someone who is not technical. The importance here is whether the candidate can make the explanation simple to understand and check whether the other person understood the details. Asking the candidate how they manage client or team feedback will be helpful, particularly when the feedback is negative.

Problem-Solving & Adaptability to Business Needs

If you want to know how to hire best PHP developers, keep in mind that they don’t just write code. They use critical thinking to find solutions that meet the business’s needs and goals. Whether the goal is to enhance the e-commerce checkout experience or to figure out why a part of the system is not performing as expected, a top PHP developer does not just carry out tasks; they are a constant source of improvements or enhancements to the end product. In the interview process, for instance, you may ask the candidate for a story about a time when they found and fixed a difficult bug, or resolved a failure of the system. You can also prompt them to explain what it was like to deal with a significant change in the project's requirements.

In the end, hiring the right developer is a matter of finding someone who understands the business side of your organization and is able to deliver results that matter. The criteria for hiring developers should not be limited to technical skills alone.

Mastering the Technical Assessment Process

Hiring a PHP developer is more than just finding a coder — you should find an individual who can develop secure, scalable, and reliable apps while meeting your business needs. A great developer will balance technical skill with the ability to collaborate and solve real-world problems. Here’s a guide on what to look for when reviewing candidates.

Technical Must-Haves

A great PHP developer is more than just a coder — they deeply understand the entire development ecosystem. Here are the key technical skills that define a strong candidate:

Core Technologies

A PHP developer should have fundamental insight into PHP itself, MySQL for the backend database, and JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for working on the client side. This ensures that your developer can move easily between server-side and client-side functionality.

PHP Frameworks

There are different frameworks for different projects. Regarding PHP, the most well-known frameworks are Laravel and Symfony. Laravel has gained traction among developers and is the most popular choice for many modern applications due to its clean structure, simplicity, and scalability. Symfony developers appreciate Symfony for its modular structure and high performance, and it is well-suited for larger enterprise applications. At Stfalcon, we use Symfony Framework as our technology of choice for web applications and enterprise-level projects. Whenever we hire a PHP developer, it is very beneficial that they have some experience with at least one major framework.

REST API & Asynchronous Processing

Most applications now make use of APIs, so a PHP developer should know how to build RESTful APIs, understand how to consume APIs, how to authenticate using OAuth and JWT, and develop efficient ways to push and pull data. It will also be advantageous if the PHP developer has some experience with asynchronous tasks (e.g., background jobs, queuing, WebSockets) when optimizing performance in real-time applications.

Object-Oriented Programming & Design Patterns

It is very beneficial for a PHP developer to have solid knowledge of OOP principles (encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism) and experience with design patterns like MVC, Singleton, and Factory. Understanding these concepts and their definitions will give PHP developers a more structured, reusable, extensible, and maintainable way to structure their code.

Infrastructure & Cloud Services

An experienced PHP developer understands the environment in which the project will run, whether it is a traditional server or a cloud situation. With this, familiarity with AWS services (such as S3, EC2, and Lambda) becomes increasingly valuable when managing scalable, high-availability applications.

DevOps & Containerization

To the developer, Docker and Kubernetes are not crucial, but they will be extremely beneficial, as these technologies allow better deployment, environment consistency, and ease in scaling applications.

Database Expertise

An excellent PHP developer does not simply write queries; they understand how to construct efficient database structures that work in a scalable way. MySQL will often be the de facto standard for many applications running on a PHP framework, but PostgreSQL will be the application of choice for complex queries and high concurrency. MongoDB, a NoSQL database, is often the right database for dynamic and unstructured data. The ideal database will depend upon what kind of data the project is dealing with and whether growth is expected down the road.

Security Best Practices & Performance Optimization

A PHP developer should know how to write secure code from day one, rather than fixing vulnerabilities later on, such as preventing SQL injection or securing an API, or how to deal with the authentication of users. Performance is equally important — it is often the case that just studying how to cache efficiently, reducing database calls, and knowing how best to optimize speed and the server response to improve the speed and reliability of a PHP-based application.

Using Coding Challenges and Live Coding Exercises

Using coding challenges and live coding assignments is, in our experience, one of the most helpful PHP developer hiring tips. It provides excellent opportunities to evaluate a candidate’s problem-solving abilities, coding efficacy, and real-time critical thinking. It may be a definitive option to replace a test when time is an issue or candidates are unwilling to do it. Coding challenges and live coding are also easily customizable to test specific applicable skills such as database design or API development. When live coding, focus on how the candidate solves the problem, explains their thinking, and handles challenges as they come up. You can evaluate technical skills and soft skills such as collaboration and adaptability. Keep the task simple, not overly complicated, and reflective of the daily tasks that could occur in the position.

Evaluating Code Samples and GitHub Repositories

When reviewing code samples, gauge for clarity and simplicity of code using best practices, like naming conventions and efficiency of algorithms. If you review code hosted on GitHub or another site, you can understand how often candidates push code and the types of projects they contribute to. Pay attention to the version control systems used, a general structure for their repositories, and any open road source code. This gives you a flavor for coding standards and if they are in search of improvement. Pursue examples where developers solved a real-world problem, such as scaling an application or integrating a third-party API.

Code review can be conducted through GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket to report on code artifacts. It will be easier to navigate the review process if the reviewer, co-reviewer, or you, as a hired consultant or inspector, have an organized space to work in that includes coders, reviewers, and project files. Reviewing and providing comments are far more efficient in code review tools compared to messaging apps of email strings. This offers a more equally organized space in order to foster two-way communication and an efficient opportunity to track issues and keep the team as consistent as possible. Tools designated for code reviews help to improve general code quality by trying to detect bugs or issues well before the code reaches a "producer" phase. This reduces the likelihood of bugs actually reaching production code and opens up questioning on their presence, generally.

Mitigating Risks While Hiring PHP Developers

A structured hiring process helps companies avoid common pitfalls and hire skilled PHP developers who fit their technical and business needs. Missing key risk mitigation steps can result in costly litigation, severe security issues, or expensive delays in projects. Here’s how to hire PHP programmers while managing these issues thoughtfully.

Legal and Contractual Considerations

A well-defined contract is critical to protecting your business from legal and security risks. Be sure the employment agreements manage the scope of work, confidentiality, and ownership of any intellectual property. Non-disclosure agreements ("NDAs") are necessary when sensitive business logic or proprietary code needs to be withheld. It is important to follow your local labor laws when hiring full-time employees or contractors. This helps you avoid legal disputes. If the developer is hired from another country, consulting with a local expert to help oversee this process is a good idea. At Stfalcon, we always sign an NDA with all the specialists we hire and also do our best to meet any of our clients’ additional security requirements.

Background and Reference Checks

To hire PHP developers without risks, pay attention to comprehensive background and reference checks. It will help help ascertain candidates' skills and experience legitimacy. Contacting previous employers helps confirm candidates' work experience, project experience, and work habits. Asking for code samples will help gauge candidates’ coding ability and collaboration standards on GitHub or other online communities. Checking educational credentials and any relevant certifications during the verification process is also crucial. Background verification ultimately secures the engagement of developers who possess technical skills and who prove to be good hires in a professional context. At Stfalcon, we focus on candidates who can show their own projects or how they contributed to open-source work. This evidence of skills is the most reliable proof.

Delegating the vetting process

Our pre-vetted pool of specialists and our process directly respond to your need to hire and find PHP developers with limited risk. We take care of all legal and contract matters and follow the laws of Ukraine. We also protect your intellectual property as part of our agreement. We carefully check all candidates to make sure our developers are skilled and trustworthy. This includes background checks, technical tests, and reference checks. Joining us saves time, reduces the chance of hiring mistakes, and gives you quick access to skilled developers. We facilitate the process so you can focus on your business goals with confidence in achieving their project goals.

Final Words

Locating skilled PHP developers is more than a technical talent — it's an investment in the long run. A clear hiring process helps new team members write clean and efficient code, understand the project's goals, and smoothly transition into their roles. This way, they can engage with the team and contribute to the project's success. Reviewing candidates in a structured process limits risk and saves development time by not making mistakes.

We have 15 years of experience in outsourced software development, with a focus on PHP. We have a strong team of skilled specialists and know how to hire the best PHP developers. This means our clients can easily find quality developers without the hassle of hiring. We have a carefully chosen talent pool and extensive experience to help you hire faster and with less risk. This gives you confidence in your project outcomes. If you are looking for experienced PHP developers, contact us. We would be happy to help you achieve your PHP development goals confidently.