Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Laravel Developers

Laravel Developers Are in High Demand in the Web Development Industry

In today’s development market, Laravel, known for its robust design and agile development capabilities, has cemented its status as one of the most sought-after PHP frameworks. Its growth in popularity originates from its diverse ecosystem, user-friendly syntax, and solid community support, which have made it an attractive choice for many businesses aiming to build scalable and reliable web applications. Laravel remains a prevalent framework and ranked as one of the top 20 development technologies in a recent Stack Overflow survey of more than 56,000 professional developers. Additionally, the platform’s programming language—PHP—is the language of choice for 77% of all live and active websites.

However, the increasing demand for Laravel experts can present challenges for companies and startups looking for candidates to fill these highly technical roles. Businesses seeking to hire dedicated Laravel programmers must engage in a competitive market to recruit and retain top developers that will help them bring their projects and business goals to success. To hire the best fit for your in-house team, it is important to understand your business requirements. If your goal is to hire a developer with basic knowledge to maintain an existing app, finding good candidates shouldn’t be too challenging. However, if you aim to hire an expert who has mastered the framework’s intricacies and who can take your project to the next level, locating the right experts for the job becomes more daunting.

Creating an effective recruitment and evaluation process tailored to finding the right developer for your specific needs is essential to find the perfect candidate who will help you meet business goals while blending seamlessly with your team. This guide aims to provide you with guidelines and tools to help you identify, assess, and successfully bring in the best Laravel coders who can meet your project needs effectively.

What Attributes Distinguish Quality Laravel Developers From Others?

A quality developer can demonstrate deep familiarity with Laravel’s core concepts, applies theoretical know-how to develop well-rounded web applications with ease, and communicates effectively with the rest of the team, contributing to an inclusive and creative environment. Consider these essential developer skills and qualities that set a dedicated developer apart in their field:

By considering these attributes, you can identify developers who not only are equipped with the technical know-how needed for the job, but also bring the communication and soft skills necessary to become a highly valuable addition to your team.

Priority Skills by Business Case

To get the most out of your interview process, ensure you are aiming to hire a dedicated Laravel specialist who can demonstrate expertise in the areas most relevant to your business and project needs. Here are some examples of experience you can look for in candidates, depending on your sector.

Priority Skills by Complementary Technology

To take full advantage of the capabilities of a complex framework like Laravel, an engineer needs a range of essential complementary developer skills, including a solid understanding of front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP, as well as the basics of back-end development, such as OOP and database management. These technologies encompass several facets of development, each playing a vital role in the creation of an application. When combined, they facilitate the development and enhancement of Laravel applications, enabling responsive user interfaces, interactive features, elegant and dependable code, and efficient data management.

How Can You Identify the Ideal Laravel Developer for You?

By focusing on your specific business needs first and foremost, you can easily identify the ideal developer to tackle them.

Depending on whether the project is long- or short-term, or whether you are looking to hire a developer to maintain an existing project, build new features, or design and develop an application from scratch, you can determine the level of experience in a candidate that would best suit your needs.

Junior developers are able to make minor decisions and execute light operations in areas such as application development and database management, and they are well-versed in the fundamentals of PHP programming. A junior developer can also be expected to need guidance from senior developers and project managers. This can be an advantage, as having more senior members of the team mentor a junior allows for targeted training in the specific skills required for your project.

A junior developer is a cost-effective solution for a project that is relatively small, straightforward, and in need of minimal features. For example, a developer can create a CRM from scratch using Laravel Jetstream, with minimum complexity, mainly using first-party packages.

Mid-level developers can solve commonly encountered issues and implement more advanced features and applications than juniors but may require oversight when working on more sophisticated operations. Mid-level developers can provide professional opinions and good problem-solving skills. They are also capable of writing comprehensive documentation and implementing proper testing, and they are likely a good choice for a mentor if you are looking to train a more junior developer.

A mid-level developer strikes a balance between cost and years of experience. They are capable of working on relatively complex web applications, require less guidance than juniors, and can manage their priorities successfully.

Senior developers have an extensive background specializing in Laravel development, and they are uniquely qualified to identify and direct project initiatives. They are proficient in PHP and the rest of the back-end ecosystem and often have familiarity with front-end technologies as well. A senior developer is also able to get involved with your business processes, and choose wisely when selecting the appropriate tools to integrate with your existing infrastructure. They will know how to properly implement tests—like using Laravel Dusk for end-to-end testing and PHPUnit for unit and feature testing. Their in-depth knowledge of cloud and deployment strategies (e.g., Amazon Web Services with Laravel Vapor or Laravel Forge) is important for scaling projects.

Highly skilled senior developers are ideal for handling larger and more complex projects with unique requirements and strict deadlines. Their extensive experience and expertise position them to deliver effective and high-quality solutions that fit your project’s needs. These may include the refactoring of an existing codebase or designing an adequate architecture for a project. A senior developer’s proven capacity to provide architectural design, advanced problem-solving, and operational insights is more than worth the investment.

Whether to choose a junior, mid-level, or senior developer depends on factors such as project requirements, budget, and timelines. Junior developers tend to be the most cost-effective choice, followed by mid-level developers. Senior developers with credible and demonstrated track records in software architecture, process optimization, and creative problem-solving typically command a higher salary, but they can prove a valuable investment if their advanced knowledge allows you to cut costs later in the development process. You might find that a flexible hiring model allows you to work on an as-needed basis with the most appropriate developer to accomplish your company’s priorities.

How to Write a Job Description for Your Project

To target the right developer in the talent pool, it is important to know what sort of skills you are looking for. Here is how to craft the perfect job description:

• Choose a suitable title for the position. A job title should reflect the main job area of responsibility. Potential job openings for someone with Laravel programming skills could include:
• Laravel programmer – Responsible for developing and maintaining Laravel-based web apps, ensuring code quality and performance with security in mind.
• Full-stack developer – Involved in end-to-end Laravel web development and an expert in front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Back-end developer – Focused on server-side development using Laravel, including API design and development and database management.
• E-commerce developer – Specializing in developing and customizing e-commerce platforms using Laravel and implementing features like payment gateways, shopping carts, and order management systems.
• Project lead – Responsible for leading a team of experienced developers, coordinating project requirements with stakeholders, ensuring timely delivery, and providing technical guidance and mentorship to more junior developers.
• Clearly outline the required developer skills and level of experience sought.
• Emphasize any required proficiency in Laravel, PHP, OOP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, database management, or any another core skill depending on your goals. It is important that the developer is well-aware of what main technical skills you are looking for.
• Provide any additional skills or frameworks that are relevant to your project and you may wish to see in a candidate.
• Provide a clear overview of the job duties. These may include developing and/or maintaining Laravel applications and features, working with cross-functional teams, and ensuring security.
• Mention any specific project requirements or industry knowledge that may be a good-to-have, or even a necessity. This might include specific hands-on experience in building e-commerce platforms or developing API integrations.

By formulating a job description—listing the required skills for your specific Laravel development project and concisely outlining the position’s responsibilities—you will entice suitable candidates and hire an expert that can help meet business goals in record time.

What Are the Most Important Interview Questions?

It is essential for the interviewer to have a list of questions to use during the hiring process to test Laravel experts. Here are some examples of technical questions that allow you to assess the candidate’s fit.

What are some advantages of Laravel over other PHP frameworks?

Benefits include:

• Simple, elegant syntax and sensible coding conventions that facilitate code maintainability, helping legacy code stay agile.
• Laravel’s built-in features and libraries, such as authentication, routing, and caching, used to speed up development and reduce the need for third-party packages when developing web and mobile applications.
• The robust ORM system, Eloquent, which simplifies database interactions and provides a user-friendly way to work with databases.
• A large and active community, offering extensive support, resources, and external packages to Laravel coders.
• Easy integration with popular tools, allowing for seamless development and scalability of your application.
• Laravel prioritizes security, as shown by its built-in security features: secure authentication and authorization mechanisms, protection against XSS and SQL injection attacks, and data encryption.

Does PHP support method overloading?

No, PHP does not support method overloading in the traditional sense, where a developer can define multiple functions with the same name but using different parameters. However, PHP supports optional and variable-length arguments, which are able to achieve similar functionalities. Optional arguments allow defining default values for each parameter, while variable-length arguments support the handling of a varying number of arguments within a single method.

What is a closure in Laravel?

In PHP, a closure refers to an anonymous function that can be assigned to a variable. It can also be passed as an argument to another function. It is often used as a callback method, providing flexibility in executing code at the stage of execution. PHP closures are most often used in Laravel for tasks like specifying route actions or defining inline behavior for the Eloquent ORM query builder. Closures encapsulate behavior and allow passing behavior as data, enabling a flexible execution of code.

You may consult additional resources, such as essential PHP interview questions, to supplement core topics.

Why Do Companies Hire Laravel Developers?

Companies and startups choose to hire skilled Laravel programmers due to the extreme versatility and unique features that the platforms offers as a PHP framework. Laravel stands out among other types of frameworks due to its ability to support feature-rich web and mobile app development by offering top-notch security, high-quality performance, and an open-source platform and community. These factors make Laravel a compelling choice for businesses.

Hiring expert developers allows companies to gain access to a community of professionals rich in specialized skill sets that are essential for building reliable and modern web applications. Laravel’s many benefits, including its comprehensive ecosystem, streamlined database management system, and dependable community support, make it an attractive option for leveraging PHP’s capabilities and creating advanced web solutions. This hiring guide provides you with the essential insights you need on key attributes, effective interview questions, and practical tips to confidently identify, interview, and hire the right Laravel specialist for your project.

The technical content presented in this article was reviewed by Hristo Antov.