What are the hourly rates for PHP developers in the USA?
Planning to take your business online? You need to have a few talented developers in your team if you are planning to digitise your presence. So whether it is a startup or a small-to-midsize company that you run, it is imperative to hire the best developers for your team. PHP developers are in great demand because they can help you develop great websites. More than half websites that you see out there are built with PHP, a server side programming language. PHP is hugely popular among developers because it is cost-efficient, powerful, easy to use, secure and compatible with most web servers.
Other reasons why PHP developers would be perfect for your business
PHP developers have the skills and knowledge to build dynamic websites
Your business is as good as the team it has, so you need to hire really talented developers. They will have the technological brilliance to build the most sophisticated applications or websites needed to advance your business.
You can hire PHP developers at affordable rates
The expenses for hiring PHP developers would depend on the skill level and experience of the developers. If you are looking for a simple application or a website with basic requirements, you don’t need highly talented or costly developers. A beginner would be able to do the task easily. So if you are on a shoestring budget, you can hire accordingly.
PHP developers will be there after the work is done too
When hiring PHP developers, it would be sensible to hire a developer with knowledge in testing and implementation. It is imperative that testing is done at correct intervals because you cannot afford to have even a single error, because even a tiny error can cause the system to crash.
There is an excellent community for PHP developers
One of the biggest advantages to hiring a PHP developer is that they have a huge community supporting them because the scripting language is extremely popular among them. If a developer runs into an error that he cannot clear, he can depend on the ocean of solutions that’s open to them.
It is not necessary that skills, expertise and knowledge come with a price, you can easily hire a PHP developer within your budget. There are necessarily three types of PHP developers to help sort things out.
Beginner
These are developers who’ve just started out on the job, and they would work well in a team of developers because they can learn a few things from the experienced people, and whet own ideas. But they might not be able to work well on their own.
Mid-level developers
These developers have some level of experience in working on a few PHP solutions. So when you are on a budget, mid-level developers would be the perfect choice. They offer quality service at low prices easily.
Expert developers
You can give that seed of an idea to an expert developer, and see it come to fruition. Working with an expert developer would give you that much-needed competitive edge. They might be pricey, but definitely well worth the investment.
What next?
1. Knowledge of frameworks is also a factor
Once you’ve decided on the level of knowledge and expertise needed, then it is important to hire developers who have knowledge of different types of frameworks. There are different frameworks suitable for different scenarios. Developers with knowledge of using raw PHP would be perfect if you are looking to create a simple software product to get user feedback.
You might get plenty of PHP developers to do that task for you, but the problem with raw PHP is its poor code readability. If one developer works on the code, and you need to change it at a later time, then you will have to find the same developer, or revamp the code and start over again.
2. In-house or Freelance
Now that you know what to expect from different kinds of developers, you need to decide whether it should be in-house or freelance developers. Long term hires are definitely more expensive than freelance hires because for the former kind, you have to spend on insurance, workspace, training, PF, medical expenses and so on. Freelancers may not be as dedicated as your regular educated PH developer, because for them it is a task or a project, but an in-house developer will be more responsible and more dedicated.
3. Where to hire your freelancers?
There are plenty of people where you get really talented freelancers, and a horde of beginners looking for a lucky break. Toptal, Fiverr, GitHub and Upwork are some really good places to tap if you need to hire a team of developers without breaking the bank. There are app developers at various expert levels, and you can study their profile, and choose the ones that seem good for your project. The most popular platform for web developers is definitely GitHub and the most commonly used one is Upwork. A disadvantage with Upwork is that you have so many people sharing their profiles there that it would not be easy to find the ones with real skills. You really have to weed out a few before you choose. GitHub on the other hand is the spot where developers hangout, so you get to meet a lot of developers and match and compare their skills.
How much you need to spend
Now comes the question, how much do you need to spend on a PHP developer. Or how much do you need to pay while hiring a PHP developer. The answer, of course, depends on the skill and expertise of the developer and the project scope. There are developers who can do a simple project for $15per hour, and this can go as high as $80 per hour or even more, if the project is complicated. The rate of the developer will, of course, increase as the experience of the developer increases.
The rate of a non-US PHP developer can be even lower. On an average, you can spend around $86k per year on a developer, if you are planning to get both junior and expert developers in your team.
Please note that the above rates may change with the job situation and economic conditions. Above everything, it would depend on your particular project requirement.You will also have to consider whether to go for fixed price payments or contractual payments, and sometimes, payments are made with each milestone achievement.
Conclusion
PHP is a fairly easy language to learn, so you will get plenty of developers if you look in all the right places. Just remember to whet them thoroughly, so you will have made the right choice.
Interesting Links:
How Much Does It Cost to Hire A PHP Developer?
Pictures: Canva
The author: Sascha Thattil works at Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.
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