Outsource PHP Development: A Guide to Hiring Top Talent

Outsource PHP Development is when developers specialize in the PHP framework and use it to build website pages, applications, and online platforms. 

Many businesses hire PHP developers from countries that are outside of where the business is located for reasons like cost savings, a lack of local specialized talent and scaling the business.

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Table of Contents

Let's Start From the Basics

What is PHP?

PHP is a programming language that is embedded in HTML and can be used to build websites and applications. It is easy to use, can be integrated with multiple databases, and is great for scalability. 

PHP as a programming language was developed in 1993 by Rasmus Leodorf. He used to develop his personal homepage. By using PHP, he was able to track how many users were viewing his resume on his personal homepage. It was released to the public in 1995. 

Popular use cases of PHP:

  • Build scalable websites 
  • Content management systems
  • E-commerce platforms
  • Social networking websites
  • API Development
  • SaaS Platforms

Companies That Built Their Platform Using PHP

What Does a PHP Developer Do?

a man with a red hoodie that says dev working on a few screen with code on it with floating icons of different code a man with a red hoodie that says dev working on a few screen with code on it with floating icons of different code

Roles & Responsibilities

  • Developing and maintaining web applications using PHP.
  • Understanding of front-end and back-end development.
  • Database management using MySQL, PostgreSQL, or other databases.
  • Integrate third-party services, APIs, and payment gateways.
  • Identify and fix bugs and performance issues in PHP applications.
  • Optimize PHP applications for speed and scalability.
  • Work closely with designers, front-end developers, and project managers.
  • Keep up with the latest PHP versions, frameworks (Laravel, CodeIgniter, Symfony), and best practices.

Choosing Between In-house and Outsourced Developers

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Benefits of Outsourcing PHP Developement?

1. Get Access to a Pool of Global Talent 🌎

By using an outsourcing service, you can expand your hiring opportunities and get access to a pool of global talent that you otherwise wouldn’t have access to. 

Some countries have a higher pool of skilled PHP talent than others. By outsourcing your development, you can find skilled PHP developers to work on projects remotely without breaking the bank.

2. Save Your Money💰

Countries like the US and UK have a higher cost of living, which means that the labor costs are equally high. Large organizations and corporations can afford to hire a team of developers at $70,000-100,000/year, but startups and small business founders don’t have enough resources to allocate such high costs for a PHP developer, especially when it’s not the core selling point of their business.

With outsourcing, you can find global talent with the same expertise at half the cost because of the difference in standard of living. Since the developer you are hiring is earning significantly more than the market value, they will be much more invested in doing a good job on your project.

3. Spend Your Resources on Core Business Functions 💸

By saving on labor costs, you can ensure that your resources are put to better use. New founders are constantly stressed about their money running out and have to find penny-pinching strategies to keep their business going in the early days.

By outsourcing your nonessential teams, you can significantly save on costs and instead redirect those resources into fulfilling your core business needs.

4. Reduce Liability By Using a Hiring Partner 🤝

If you’ve never hired a talent from a different country before, it can be confusing to navigate local hiring laws. Each country has its own set of rules and restrictions when it comes to hiring local labor, whether that is the number of hours they can work, hourly wages, or even the days off. 

By partnering with an outsourcing partner, you can reduce the hassles of hiring. Your partner will handle the payroll and compliance needs for you so you can focus purely on your project needs.

5. Accelerate Development Timeline 📈

With a team of experienced PHP developers and the right consultants, you can fast-track your development process instantly. While you are figuring out your daily business needs, your development team can immediately get started with your website or application.

Drawbacks of Outsourcing PHP Developement?

1.Losing Out on In-person Collaboration 🤝

For many business owners, in-person work is very valuable for a harmonious collaboration of ideas. Being able to brainstorm back and forth without technological barriers means much more than working with a remote team. In those cases, it makes sense to have an in-person team.

But if remote collaboration is easier for you as a business and you are looking to fulfill a specific need beyond the scope of your current team, it’s much more valuable and cost-effective to just outsource your PHP development. You can easily give them the scope of work on a biweekly basis and use tools like GitHub or Dropbox to monitor changes in the project.

2.Gaps in Communication 📣

One of the biggest barriers to outsourcing is communication challenges. Especially when it comes to tech hiring. As a founder, you need to be able to communicate the scope of the project with complete clarity. This is the only way for you to ensure there is no miscommunication that leads to wasted efforts or loss of valuable resources. We get it. It can be frustrating to have a vision for your platform but not have the right vocabulary or insights to communicate that to your team. 

Here’s an insightful guide for non-technical founders to better communicate with their team.

Be assertive, set your expectations for your business, and then wait for them to reiterate your expectations back to you so you have clarity that they understand what is expected of them. Some hiring partners do comprehensive communication and culture assessments, so you don’t have to worry about any unnecessary language barriers. 

3. Timezone Differences Creating Challenges 🕑

Imagine that you had a brilliant idea while you were sitting at the breakfast table and now have to wait 6-7 hours for this idea to be communicated and implemented. How frustrating is that? Or if suddenly your website page is down and you have no way to get it back up because your developer is not in the same timezone as you. 

Many outsourcing partners will convince you that the time zone isn’t a barrier. In fact, you now have the opportunity to work like a 24/7 well-oiled machine that never stops. Your development team is churning out work while you are getting your beauty sleep. Sounds amazing. In reality, development requires many reiterations and collaborations, which is not ideal with a large gap of time.

 It’s best to hire talent who have, at max, a 3-4 hour time zone difference so you can ensure that there are some hours in between when your team and you are working together.

4. Data Security and Confidentiality 🔒

Many agencies promise the world and beyond, the best of the best senior talent, but the reality is far from it. With the rise in popularity of offshoring and outsourcing talent, some businesses take advantage of founders by claiming that they have expert talent at extremely low prices.

Later on, when the project begins, they find out that the talent is in fact unaware of the core fundamentals, writes bug-riddled code, and doesn’t have any understanding of best practices. Not only that, a lack of background checks and reviews means not knowing if your talent can be trusted and relied on. Some developers will take advantage of this and misuse private company data for their benefit. 

5. Conducting Quality Checks ✅

When you are hiring talent locally, you can personally invest your time and efforts in ensuring you are screening and hiring the right talent for your project or team. With outsourced hiring, it is challenging for someone who is operating their business from a different country to find talent with the right expertise needed for the project. 

Here's where outsourcing partners come in. They help businesses hire and manage talent without any hassle. Finding thr right offshore partner is much easier than trying to outsource your team from a new locaiton. 

Your Checklist for Finding the Right Offshoring Partner

  • List Your Project Needs

    • Role requirements for the talent
    • Scope of your project
    • Deliverables for the project
    • Fixed budget for the project
    • Project deadline
    • Deadline for hiring talent
    • Non-negotiable when hiring talent
  • Your Search for the One

    • Find a country with high demand for PHP developers
    • Offshoring partner who caters to your business (agnecy, startup, enterpise)
    • Go through their website
    • Look at client directory for similar businesses
    • Experience working with international clients
    • Review on Glassdoor and Truspilot
    • Look for customer support line
    • See their talent portfolios and case studies
    • Check founder and company's linkedin
  • Questions for Demo Call

    • Have a brief personal chat to get a sense of who they are
    • Check their communication skills
    • Ask them for their past portfolio of projects
    • See if they have the capacity to fulfill your project needs
    • Assess their understanding of the local hiring market
    • Gauge if they are overselling you
  • Questions for the In-depth Call

    • Process of sourcing good talent
    • Rubric assessment for hiring talent
    • Do you have vetted talent for immediate hiring
    • How do you verify talent expertise?
    • Average time of hire
    • Can you hire from a specific country?
    • Do you have a trial period available?
    • Can you replace talent that is not a good fit?

Cost Considerations of Outsourcing PHP Developement?

The most common reason why businesses choose to outsource their hiring endeavors is simply to reduce labor costs. While this is a valuable reason, I’m here to tell you don't hire talent based on costs. Hiring talent on a cost basis could be detrimental to your business strategy and could end up costing you more money in the long run. Instead, focus on finding an outsourcing partner who can find you good talent within your budget. Hiring someone to build your application or database should be a decision purely based on expertise of talent and not cost.

Imagine hiring a newbie PHP developer who makes you a poorly navigated site for your e-commerce business, and now you have all your customers exiting your site out of frustration instead of clicking BUY

In the United States, mid level PHP developers can expect to be paid between $70,000 - $100,000 per year, depending on their experience and location. In the UK the same developers can be expected to be paid £35,000 - £50,000 per year Alternatively, you can hire mid level PHP developers in Mexico with the exact same skillset and experience for anywhere between $18,000 - $24,000.

Regardless of your budget, you can be assured there are significant cost savings that happen when you decide to outsource your talent. So focus your energy on finding a good partner and hiring the right talent instead.

Essential Technical Skills to Look for in PHP Developers

1. Proficiency in PHP frameworks

Your PHP developer should be know how to work with frameworks like Laravel and Symphony. They should have expert knowledge of HTML/CSS and Javascript. 

2. PHP core concepts

Understanding of PHP fundamentals, knowledge of best practices and be able to to action out the concepts and not just have a therotical understanding. 

3. Understanding of Version Control Systems

They should know how to use Git for Version Control, resolve conflicts and branch and merge. They should follow a structured code review process.

4. Knowledge of Restful API Systems

Using Laravel to create restful APIs. Knowing how to follow HTTP methods. Using API for security and authnetication. 

5. Testing and Debugging Capabilities

Handling error requests, using PHP debugging tools like Xdebug and Laravel Debugbar. Writing PHP unit tests and testing API endpoints. 

Our PHP Developers Are Equipped with the Right Tech Stack

Laravel

Backend
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MySQL

Backend
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CSS

Frontend
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Vue.js

Frontend
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Php Storm

Frontend
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Ubuntu

Server & Deployment
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Docker

Server & Deployment
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Heroku

Hosting and Cloud
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Essential Culture Fit Skills to Look for in PHP Developers

1. Clarity in Communicating Ideas

When you are outsourcing talent, you will come across many developers who lack the fluency to communicate ideas in your primary language. This might not be a barrier when it comes to in-person communication, as you can easily resolve challenges there and then, but in a remote setting, communication is everything. 

Make sure you hire developers who you can communicate with without any language barriers, and make sure they are able to understand your instructions and communicate their ideas in an effective way. Overcoming this can easily solve many of the common outsourcing challenges.

2. Can Adapt to New Situations

Someone who can go with the flow and can take on new challenges that come their way. You want to find someone who is not easily fazed by difficulties in the development process. With PHP development, problem-solving is an essential skill to look for. Someone who can think on their feet and easily find solutions for problems without losing their cool. 

3. Takes Accountability for Their Work

Many developers have a tendency to work in silos. They are only concerned about completing the tasks they are given. The quality of the work and how it affects the business is not something they are bothered by. 

Find people who take accountability for the work they are doing. They understand the value of doing something poorly and take ownership for the mistakes they make.

4. Someone Who Looks at the Bigger Picture

Someone who can fill in the gaps without being probed. They understand the value of the work they are doing and do quality work that will be sustainable for the long term. These are individuals who look beyond their scope of work. 

Managing Your PHP Team

So now you've picked a good outsourcing partner who found you the right talent. Time to onboard your PHP developers.

Businesses all over the world have remote working environments and function without any hassle. 

However, outsourcing talent from a different country brings in new challenges. Here are some things to keep in order to manage your team well.

1. Have Open Communication Channels 💬

Create a process to work autonomously with your remote PHP team. Communication doesn't always mean having daily meetings with your development team. It means learning the art of communicating your project needs with clarity so there isn't much need for back and forth between you and the team.

The more efficient you are in your communication process, the easier it is to function as a remote team. The same goes for your team. Establish how you want them to communicate tasks early on so you aren't wracking your brain about it later on. Some companies have local consultants to train and check in with the teams so it removes some of the burden of regularly having to keep tabs on your team's daily progress.

2. Tackle Cultural Barriers 🗺

When you are hiring from a different country, you are hiring them for their skill and quality, but with that comes a lot of new experiences. Their way of working and understanding of terminologies and perspectives may differ. The best way to approach it is through curiosity and open-mindedness. 

Know that there may be an initial barrier in understanding where your new team fits into your company's current working system. But if you get to know your talent, ask questions with empathy, and ensure they get the job done, you are going to be happier with the end results in the long run.

3. Get Around the Timezone Issue 🕐

Probably the most common question when it comes to outsourcing is, What about the time zone? If your PHP development team is working 8+ hours behind you, it can be extremely challenging to relay new changes and communicate urgent project requirements.
This is why it is suggested to always select talent from locations that are 3-4 hours away from your company base. That way your team can be working for a few hours at the same time as you.

4. Document Talent Success 📑

Create a documentation process of KPIs and specific weekly targeted goals that you expect your team to achieve. Communicate the kind of quality and output you are looking for in the PHP development team. Keep track of the development process of each of the tasks to ensure that the team is able to meet your standards according to the given timeline.
Documentation is key here, as it helps you as a founder to identify problems and determine based on output if the talent you are hiring is providing value to your project. Tracking small successes can help you better estimate your long-term output.

5. Regularly Perform Code Review and Maintenance 👩‍💻


If you are a non-technical founder, chances are you won't understand in detail the kind of PHP code your talent is writing or whether they are following the right best practices and prioritizing quality over fulfilling tasks quickly.
If you have the budget, consider hiring a local consultant or a senior developer from your team to regularly review the code to ensure it is up to the standards.

Ensure your PHP developers follow best practices such as adhering to PSR (PHP Standards Recommendations), writing reusable functions, and maintaining security standards in handling user data. Some developers think in silos and write code to fulfill the task requirement instead of building code that can be maintained long-term.

6. Build a Valuable Relationship with Your Team

We've spoken a lot about what you should look for when hiring good talent. The potential barriers and opportunities that come with outsourcing. But an essential part of outsourcing that's overlooked is relationship building. While outsourcing can be short-term, it is important to build a good foundational relationship with the team you are hiring. By making them part of your team, your talent is more likely to be invested in your project.

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