How to Become A PHP Developer in 2025: Important Skills Required

Discover all the basic requirements that are essential to become a PHP Developer. Get to know the technical skills and useful resources to fulfill your dream of becoming a PHP Developer:

This tutorial is ideal for someone who likes to start a career in PHP.

In this tutorial, you will learn about PHP jobs, what organizations employ PHP developers, tasks and duties, top technical skills for a career in this field, how to become a successful PHP developer, useful resources, salaries, and frequently asked questions.

=> Read Through the Series of PHP Tutorials

Table of Contents:

Skills Required to Become A PHP Developer
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
- Was this helpful?
- Recommended Reading

Skills Required to Become A PHP Developer

PHP Job Positions

There are several job positions and opportunities for a career in PHP. Some of the main job positions related to PHP web development are listed below:

The below job positions may contain some similar roles, tasks, and duties, but the main focus is different:

PHP developer: The main focus is on software development using the PHP language.
Web developer: The main focus is on software development.
Back-end developer: The main focus is on back-end development.
Full-stack developer: Focus on both back-end development and front-end development.
Laravel developer: The main focus is on software development using the Laravel framework.
WordPress Developer: The main focus is on software development using the WordPress content management system.
Freelancer, and many more.

Nowadays, freelancing is very popular in the IT industry and there are many opportunities for PHP developers in freelancing. If you have good programming knowledge and at least a few years of industrial experience, you can easily move to freelance. It will be a great part-time job opportunity for you or even you may become a full-time freelancer.

There are several advantages of freelancing. The biggest advantage is that you can work on your own schedule, unlike traditional jobs.

Hiring PHP Developers

PHP developers are hired almost everywhere. The following list shows the organizations that employ PHP developers and similar roles:

Private IT companies
Private non-IT companies
- The majority of non-IT companies have an IT department for their technology-related work.
Governmental institutions
NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)
Small and medium-scale businesses
Colleges, universities, and other higher education institutions
Online stores and websites
Freelancing companies

Tasks and Duties of PHP Developers

PHP developers are usually responsible for server-side scripting or back-end development. Often, they support front-end development by integrating back-end work with the application.

The following list shows the typical tasks and duties of PHP developers. These responsibilities may vary depending on the company and job requirements.

Develop new websites.
Maintain and modify existing websites.
Interact with the team members for clarifications regarding projects.
Interact with clients to provide technical support.
Carry out testing such as unit testing.

Top Technical Skills for a Career in PHP

The required technical skills may vary depending on your job role.

The following skills may be required but are not limited to:

PHP
HTML5
CSS3
JavaScript
AJAX
JQuery
JSON
User interface design
Databases like SQL and NoSQL
Version control systems like GIT
Git repositories like GitHub, GitLab
MVC architecture
Design patterns
Frameworks such as Laravel, CodeIgniter
Object-oriented programming (OOP)
Web services
APIs

Even though you are not familiar with all the above technologies, by continuous learning and gaining experience, you can become an expert.

Suggested Reading =>> Best Free PHP IDE & PHP Code Editors

How to Become a Successful PHP Developer

Here are some tips to become a successful PHP developer or a programmer:

Become qualified in Computer science or Information technology with a focus on web development. Example: Completing a bachelor’s degree, completing a professional qualification like BCS HEQ.

Note: Having a formal qualification is not a must, but advantageous.

Complete a PHP web development internship while studying. An internship will help you to gain real experience while exposing yourself to the industry. Also, you can learn a lot from seniors.
Complete short courses or online courses related to software development. Many free and paid online courses are available. Just Google!
Actively get involved in forums, read blog articles, etc. to expand your technical knowledge.

Also, sharpen your soft skills like communication skills, time management skills, leadership skills, etc. as it is important everywhere.

Useful Resources

There are thousands of resources available to learn PHP. This tutorial series is a good learning resource for you.

Here are some more useful resources you may refer to:

Also, don’t forget to join communities (forums, webinars, social media groups, etc.) as communities help to build professional relationships among developers, discuss technical issues and trends, etc. Further, you can improve your technical knowledge by being actively involved in those communities.

How Much a PHP Developer Earn

These jobs are highly paid. The following table shows the average PHP developer salaries in some popular countries:

Country	Average Salary
Australia	82,300 AUD per year
Canada	100,000 CAD per year
China	306,000 CNY per year
Denmark	402,000 DKK per year
Germany	39,500 EUR per year
India	328,000 INR per year
Malaysia	65,600 MYR per year
Netherlands	51,800 EUR per year
Russia	994,000 RUB per year
Saudi Arabia	171,000 SAR per year
Singapore	82,100 SGD per year
South Africa	350,000 ZAR per year
Switzerland	46,900 SZL per year
United Kingdom (UK)	60,200 GBP per year
United States of America (USA)	79,500 USD per year

[data source]

Didn’t you find your country on the above list? Don’t worry! You may visit the Salary Explorer website to find out more salary details.

Frequently Asked Questions

In this section, we will discuss some of the frequently asked questions related to the PHP career. These questions will help you to prepare for your examinations and interviews confidently.

1. Is PHP good for a career?

Definitely! There is a high demand for developers and programmers who are good at PHP and other related technologies. Therefore, it is a smart career choice if you enjoy coding.

2. Is learning PHP easy?

Yes, it is easy to learn for beginners compared to other programming languages like C++.

3. How can I practice PHP?

There are several online and offline resources available, both free and paid, and you can easily refer to them to get started.

4. Is PHP easier than Java?

Both languages are easy to learn. However, some individuals may find learning PHP easier than Java.

5. Can I learn PHP by myself?

Yes, you can self-study it.

6. Can I learn PHP without knowing JavaScript?

Yes, the two languages can be used both independently and collaboratively. However, knowing JavaScript is advantageous (this is the reason we put JavaScript as a prerequisite for this tutorial series).

Conclusion

PHP is a great career choice for those who like coding. There are several resources available to learn PHP such as the official online manual, tutorials, books, ebooks, cheat sheets, online courses, etc. PHP developers can earn competitive salaries all around the world.

Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Hope to see you soon with our next tutorial. Happy learning!

PREV Tutorial | NEXT Tutorial

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!