PHP Developer: Roles, Responsibilities, Skills, Salary & More

The world of programming languages has seen the popularity of PHP emerge over the years. Developers are increasingly being fond of PHP website development, and it has been growing far and wide as a preferred career option. There are popular conglomerates making the most of PHP as their chosen technology – Wikipedia, Facebook, MailChimp, Tumblr, and Zoom being some of them.

Even if there are superior programming languages surrounding it, PHP still stands tall as a chosen option for many. The rising number of PHP developer jobs is direct proof of its widespread recognition. Even multi-faceted PHP development tools like Cloud9, PHPStorm, Zend Studio, NetBeans, Aptana Studio, Eclipse, CodeLobster, and many more are opted by developers to maximize their programming efficacy and increase their enriched portfolio.

Let us glance through the different aspects of being a PHP developer – the key attributes, roles, responsibilities, skills, salary, interview questions, etc.

What Is PHP Developer?

A PHP developer is a skilled software developer who can write beautiful and fast code with PHP – a general-purpose, dynamic, scripting language geared toward web development. PHP development includes designing, testing, and implementation of software components with the use of the PHP programming language. It empowers developers to write dynamically generated content with speed and robustness.

A PHP developer develops the web application logic on the backend components and integrates different plug-ins and frontend work with the applications, connecting third-party web services. They have competencies in working with related technologies like AJAX, MySQL, JSON, HTML, XML, etc., and other PHP frameworks like Codelgniter, Laravel, etc.

Key Reasons Why PHP Developer Has Good Career Prospects

PHP developers are completely in demand, no wonder why. Here are reasons enough to prove why a career in PHP development is sought after so keenly:

• PHP is a popular language, easy to learn and master since it is based on C and Java
• PHP development has a simple, feature-rich approach with other readily available frameworks and technologies
• There is an increasing list of organizations seeking the use of PHP in their projects
• It is free, open-source, and supports OOPS via data encapsulation, inheritance, etc.
• It is flexible, dynamic, and compatible with almost all operating systems
• There is sufficient documentation and community support for developers

PHP Developer Skills

The PHP developer skill set consists of the following skills, split as technical skills and soft skills:

Technical Skills:

• Frontend technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• PHP web frameworks like Laravel, CodeIgniter, etc.
• Web servers and database languages
• Graphic design software
• Content management system
• Object-oriented PHP programming
• Code versioning tools like CVS, SVN, Git, etc.
• Familiarity with SQL/NoSQL databases
• MVC design patterns
• Integration of databases and data sources into a unified system
• Open-source projects like Drupal, Joomla, etc.
• Integration with third-party APIs like Facebook, Google, etc.
• Preferably, a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, etc.
• Using XML, HTTP requests, JSON parsing, package installers like pecl, etc.
• Automated testing frameworks like PHPUnit etc.
• Data structure and algorithms
• Email and messaging apps
• Knowledge of AJAX, jQuery, MySQL
• Writing T-SQL queries, stored procedures, triggers, functions, etc.
• Scaling and tuning database applications, modeling, performance optimization, etc.

Soft Skills:

• Project management
• Problem-solving
• Innovation and best coding practices
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Critical and out-of-the-box thinking
• Upgrade skills and adapt to changes

PHP Developer – Roles And Responsibilities

Looking at the importance that they carry along, the PHP developer responsibilities must encompass the following set of activities:

• Create effective, flexible, reusable, testable, and scalable PHP code
• Analysis of application needs and website requirements from teams and clients
• Build design and layout of apps, websites
• Define, and maintain databases
• Create plug-ins, extensions,
• Code maintenance and enhancement
• Payment gateway integration with eCommerce portals
• Seamless working with UI/UX team
• Set coding standards and connect applications with third-party web services
• Seamless integration of data storage solutions and user-facing elements
• Resolve complicated performance issues and architectural problems
• Write well-designed backend code and create backend portals with PHP modules
• Go by the industry’s standard best practices
• Ensure testing and maintenance for optimized code
• Prepare accurate documentation for different tools and services
• Code deployment to live environment
• Deal with proficient software consultants for better designing and development

PHP Developer Salary

Being a PHP developer is a lucrative career for those who follow the PHP developer job responsibilities with utmost sincerity and hard work.

The following figures are proof enough:

According to indeed.com, the average salary for a PHP developer is $88,419 per year in the United States.

The average salary for a PHP developer is £44,025 per year in the United Kingdom.

The average salary for a PHP developer is $75,691 per year in Canada.

According to talent, the average PHP developer salary in the USA is $97,500 per year or $50 per hour.

Entry-level positions start at $80,000 per year while most experienced workers make up to $126,750 per year.

The average PHP developer salary in the United Kingdom is £41,630 per year or £21.35 per hour.

Entry-level positions start at £35,000 per year while most experienced workers make up to £60,000 per year.

The average PHP developer salary in Canada is $80,000 per year or $41.03 per hour.

Entry-level positions start at $70,000 per year, while most experienced workers make up to $113,500 per year.

As per Glassdoor, the national average salary for a PHP Developer is $79,499 in the United States.

The average salary for PHP Developer is £42,905 per year in London, United Kingdom.

The national average salary for a PHP Developer is CA$64,884 per year in Canada.

The average PHP developer salary in India is Rs. 300,000 per annum. This figure can go as low as Rs. 1.2 Lakhs/year and reach a maximum of Rs. 6.6 Lakhs/year.

As per Glassdoor, the national average salary for a PHP Developer is ₹23,943 per month in India.

Key PHP Interview Questions To Consider

PHP is a vast field and hence there could be numerous questions that can be asked to developers in their interviews. Here are some important ones that can help:

• What is a session in PHP?
• What are the different arrays in PHP?
• How can you create cookies in PHP?
• How does PHP interact with HTML?
• How do you implement a PHP script from the command line?
• Explain the Zend engine
• What are variables, traits, type hinting in PHP?
• How do we hash passwords in PHP?
• Explain the benefits and drawbacks of using PHP
• Elaborate some design patterns in PHP and their significance
• Name some popular PHP frameworks
• What does PHP stand for?
• What is the apt and known method to start and finish a PHP block of code
• What do you mean by a final method and a final class?
• How do PHP and JavaScript interact?
• How can I showcase text with a PHP script?
• How can we connect a MySQL database from a PHP script?
• Is PHP a case-sensitive language?
• How do you name a PHP variable?
• How to create cookies in PHP?
• What are the key USPs of using PHP over peer technologies?
• How do PHP and HTML interact?
• What is the name of the scripting engine in PHP?
• Name some features of PHP
• How many data types are present in PHP?

Good Read: Laravel vs Symfony: An Evaluation Of Two Popular PHP Frameworks

On a Parting Note

As we continue to see a surge in the demand for PHP developers in the world of PHP development, it will be interesting to see how developers are benefiting heavily through it as a career option. There is an increasing number of PHP web development companies that are looking for competent resources and that says it all!