PHP developer skills are in high demand as the programming language is one of the most versatile and widely used on the web. If you are looking to hire a PHP developer or are exploring a career in web development, it is important to understand what skills and abilities are necessary for success in this field. In this post, JobsPikr will explore some of the key PHP developer skills that are essential for any successful career in this field.
What is PHP?
PHP is a general-purpose scripting language most often used for web development. It can be added to HTML code with the use of tags it preprocesses, compiles, and runs as a module on the server-side. During this process, PHP acts as a middleman between browser and server transferring information back and forth.
PHP is a scripting language which implies that it can be used to create commands or scripts for an interpreter. This interpreter can be a web server and its role will be to find and run PHP files when they are requested by a user, through his browser. The information exchanged between the two entities is sent via HTTP, the HyperText Transfer Protocol.
It is possible to add PHP code in HTML pages by enclosing it within <?php ?> tags instead of <script> and </script>. This process helps developers produce dynamic web pages. Furthermore, HTML code can include blocks that have both HTML code and PHP code. These are called PHP Sections.
What are the roles of a PHP developer?
PHP Programmers can add new features to existing websites, maintain and debug existing code, build custom applications specific to the needs of an organization that uses PHP as a front-end interactor with a backend database, and more.
PHP Developers frequently work with the LAMP stack, which includes Linux (or other open-source UNIX variants), Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python. Web application security is essential to PHP Developers, as poorly-written code can provide backdoors for hackers to gain access to sensitive data on a server.
Top 10 PHP Developer Skills
PHP Developers may work for an organization that serves PHP code on the backend to a frontend written in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. JobsPikr, one of the best jobs data providers has compiled a list of top 10 skills every PHP developer must hone to become invaluable.
- PHP Frameworks
PHP Frameworks are essential to increase the productivity of your coding. There is no dearth of PHP frameworks, you just need to pick one that is apt for the type of websites or applications you want to create. You can choose between Laravel, Cakephp, Codeigniter, etc depending on where you want to take your career in the future. In case you are a beginner, start with Laravel or Codeigniter, and if you want to work on some complex database-driven websites go for CakePHP.
- Web Servers
Web servers like Apache or Nginx can be used for web development projects of any size. It is always good to have the knowledge of how to install and configure these servers. Even if you do not want to do it at your work, it helps to know all the features that these servers can provide for your development projects. That way you will not be dependent on anyone else every time you need to set up a project.
- Databases
Every web application needs databases like MySQL, Postgres, etc to store data. Working knowledge of these databases can help you in your projects or even sometimes in interviews. These days the NoSQL concept is also catching up fast which will make it all the more important for you to have some knowledge about non-relational databases.
- PHP Coding Standards
Developers are often confused about how to follow coding standards like PEAR or PSR-2. You need not be part of this confusion if you are aware of these standards and can apply them in your code seamlessly. It not only makes debugging easier for everyone but also reduces the development time significantly. So do learn about these standards and stick to them.
- PHP Pear
PHP Pear is not an interface or an API that can be executed. It is a dependency manager that provides the installation of external libraries to various PHP projects very easily. It has become quite popular in recent times because it allows you to install all kinds of packages with ease, working across different operating systems and web servers.
- Git
If you want to make a name for yourself in the development world, it is mandatory that you know how to use version control systems. There are several options available but the most popular of all is Git. It is open source and can be used on different operating systems. Learning this skill will also help you get familiarized with Github, which is the biggest code hosting site to date.
- MVC Frameworks
MVC frameworks are becoming more popular day by day because of their benefits over normal procedural coding. The basic design pattern that these frameworks follow is to divide a large web application into different modules each having a specific responsibility and manage them in a way that can avoid any redundancy. Popular MVC frameworks are Codeigniter, Cakephp, Yii, etc.
- HTTP Protocol
HTTP protocol is the communication standard to connect websites. If you are aware of this protocol it will make your job easier when you want to work with APIs because most of them follow the HTTP protocol specification quite closely. For instance, if you know about HTTP verbs you will be able to create APIs quite easily even without the use of frameworks.
- Ajax
Ajax is a technology that allows for asynchronous communication with Javascript. This can be used to send data from one page to another allowing the user to interact with the page seamlessly. It is considered an important skill in web development today because of the increasing use of Single Page Applications that are developed using frameworks like AngularJS etc.
- Web Scraping
Web scraping can come in very handy when you want to build an application that collects data from other websites without them even knowing about it. This is quite useful for legal purposes or if you want to take down information from different websites into your system.
Conclusion
The future of PHP developer skills is looking bright. With new technology and changes in the industry, businesses will need skilled developers who can work with the latest tools and programming languages. If you are a PHP developer, now is the time to make sure you are keeping up with the latest trends and technologies.
