What Skills are Required to Become a Good PHP Developer?

PHP is a very popular server-side programming language amongst web app developers. Every web development company uses this technology to offer unique solutions to its clients. As per a survey by w3techs.com, PHP is a programming language that is used by 78.9% of all websites in the market, and that includes names like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Zoom. In November 2019, PHP came with the latest version that shows that this language is not going anywhere.

In some way, it has been overshadowed by Python and some other fast-growing languages, but the demand for PHP developers is only going high. There are around 5.7 million PHP developers in the market as per the Splashdata report and this is increasing the competition between the developers. Everyone wants to have a good PHP developer. So the pressure is on the developers.

Now, the PHP engineers first need to master the basic skills of PHP. This clearly means that a developer must have a good handle on the PHP language and its operations. Besides, they must have knowledge of multiple PHP apps and frameworks like Symfony, Laravel, and Zend to stay ahead of the competition.

The engineers must be aware of the latest updates and features of PHP and must be able to offer the best solutions using those features to both small businesses and big organizations. To know more about this, see what type of technical skills every PHP expert must have, let us go through this blog.

What is a PHP Developer?

A PHP Developer is a software engineer who has expertise in designing, testing and implementing amazing software solutions using one of the most programming languages in the market, PHP. This is a scripting language that enables web app developers to write dynamically generated content. It is generally used to add some extra functions to web pages.

Top Skills Required to Become a Great PHP Developer

Some of the major skills that are a must if you want to become a high-level PHP developer –

JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for Web Development

Nowadays when the competition in the PHP development market is increasing constantly, it isn’t enough to just have knowledge of how to write PHP code. Every web developer who wants to start a PHP business must have proper knowledge about creating websites using HTML and CSS as well. This is what hiring companies are looking for.

Having knowledge of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML will enable you to solve any type of mistakes that designers make and move the project ahead quickly without wasting any time. If you don’t know other programming languages along with PHP, others from your development team may outbid you.

Knowing What You Don’t Know

When it comes to developing a web app or website, it is very important for any developer to know what he can do to make this project better. But with this, he must also know his weaknesses and must be aware of what he cannot do to properly code websites. This is a skill that not every new PHP developer has.

When freshers are planning to join the market and are finding themselves entry-level PHP development jobs, they don’t read proposal requests clearly and put a bid on jobs that they might be the right fit for. So knowing your strengths and your weaknesses as a developer is a must.

Business Communication

If you are a freelance or a single developer or contract PHP developer, you will have to constantly communicate to the clients by yourself. Therefore, it is very important for you to learn how to use your devices to ensure that you have received email messages and you must also learn how to communicate like a professional computer science expert.

There are a lot of techies in the market who have issues when it comes to basic business communication and this can affect their reputation & business. So, if this is you, you must take a class on business communication, or take expert advice from any professional about it and improve your skills.

Grip on PHP Code, Practices, and Design Patterns

In the software development process that includes PHP, design patterns are very important. They can help in increasing the speed of development by providing repeatable solutions. They also help developers in improving code readability and this will make it easier for other developers to understand your code & recognize the patterns that are being used. There are some amazing and most common design patterns in PHP and they are Strategy, Factory, and Singleton. Besides this, there are plenty of others that you can get a grip on.

Project Management

When a developer is working individually, he won’t have anyone who is asking you to complete the development project on time. The developer would be the only one responsible for everything. He will have to juggle multiple software projects and multiple clients. Besides, you will have to manage your time, write proposals for your clients, and manage the scope of the projects. In this case, having project management skills is a must. You must know when to commit to a new project, when to deliver the old ones, and how to build a great reputation for yourself.

Networking

One of the most important things for any PHP programmer be it a freelance PHP expert or a developer who is working in a software development company is networking. The developer must be in touch with other PHP designers and web development freelancers who are from other niches. This can help them find more jobs and get referrals. Besides, you can use LinkedIn, Twitter, and to network with other developers and clients.

Basically, networking skills can be very beneficial for any developer so it is a must to have.

Conclusion

As seen in this blog, there are many essential skills that every PHP expert must have if they want to become a recognizable PHP developer in the market. Besides, as the web development field is extremely competitive and breaking into this area can be very tough. So, once you have skills and get your career rolling, enjoy jobs, offer flexibility, and try to earn more.