My business partners and I have run software development companies and hired hundreds of different types of programmers over the past 20 years. Our experience means we know a lot about hiring the top CakePHP developers.
In this article, we will share our tips on what to look for in a CakePHP developer and where to find the best talent.
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What is CakePHP?
CakePHP is a free, open-source, rapid development framework for PHP. The primary goal of CakePHP is to enable developers to work in a structured and rapid manner–without loss of flexibility.
What is CakePHP Used For?
Here are some of the most commons uses of the CakePHP framework.
Web Applications
The primary use for CakePHP is to develop web applications. Developers can use CakePHP to write back-end logic in the PHP programming language. Over 190,000 websites have used CakePHP in their development.
What to Look for When Hiring a CakePHP Developer
When hiring a CakePHP programmer, there are a few things you have to consider including experience, rates, and the type of work arrangement. It also depends on the type of project you have and what skills you need to complete it.
CakePHP Required Skills
Here are some of the basic skills that a CakePHP Developer is expected to have:
- Standard library functions and algorithms such as sorting data
- CakePHP and PHP use
- Querying databases with SQL
CakePHP Experience
CakePHP developers should have some experience with the following:
- Standard CakePHP library functions
- Object-oriented programming (OOP) in PHP
- Web development languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Writing automated tests and test plans
- Linux command line usage
- Debugging and web testing tools such as XDebug
- Regular expressions
- Enterprise, commercial, and open-source projects
How to Write a CakePHP Developer Job Description
Writing the perfect CakePHP job description is essential to ensure that you can attract the top developers. It's also important to ensure that you set the proper expectations up-front to streamline the vetting process, saving everyone time and money.
CakePHP Developer Job Description Template
Company Introduction
Use this section to write 2-3 sentences about your company. Make sure to provide information about the company culture and benefits. This would be a good section to link to your company website. The best candidates will do some advanced research.
Job Description
We are looking for a CakePHP developer responsible for maintaining the existing code on our web servers and implementing new features for our website. Your primary responsibility will be to maintain and improve the website, and to work with the rest of the development team working on different features and projects.
Responsibilities
- Write simple and effective code in PHP for the CakePHP framework
- Develop solutions based on technical specifications
- Write test code to ensure the system functions as expected
- Devise solutions to bottleneck and bug issues
- Help maintain code quality, organization, and automatization
- Add other responsibilities here that are important for the project/job
Skills
- Strong proficiency in PHP 7-8, with working knowledge of the language specification
- Up-to-date knowledge of the CakePHP framework
- Understanding of object-oriented programming (OOP) and inheritance
- Writing test code with Pest or PHPUnit
- Communicating with stakeholders
- Exposure to other web development languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Knowledge of data storage and SQL databases {{if_required}}
- Proficient understanding of code versioning tools
- Familiarity with continuous integration
- Specify other frameworks, libraries, or any other technology relevant to your project/job
- Education level or certification requirements
CakePHP Interview questions
When looking to hire a Cake developer, consider asking some of the following interview questions:
- Explain CakePHP and why it is used?
- What are the key features of CakePHP?
- What is Composer? How to create a CakePHP Project using Composer?
- What is MVC in CakePHP?
- What are hooks in CakePHP?
- Which caching engines are supported by CakePHP?
- What are helpers in CakePHP?
- How do you set a layout in CakePHP from controller?
- What is behavior in CakePHP?
- What are templates in CakePHP?
- What is scaffolding in CakePHP?
Freelance CakePHP Developer Rates
The average salary for a CakePHP developer is comparable to that of a PHP developer, which is $88,388 per year in the United States. When hiring a CakePHP freelancer, you can expect to pay $46.92 on average per hour. CakePHP freelancer rates can range from $8-$85 per hour depending on the developer's experience, where they are located, their availability, and other programming languages required.
Check out our detailed pricing guide for more freelance web developer rates.
Where to Hire a CakePHP Developer – Top Websites
Where to find CakePHP developers will ultimately depend on a few factors. Consider product duration, developer experience, cost, and how much time you're willing to put into the hiring process.
Here are our top 2 favorite places to find CakePHP developers.
Upstack
Best for the top programming talent
Upstack aims to elevate remote tech teams worldwide through dedicated freelance talent. They look for the best freelance talent by sourcing their developers from all over the world.
They deploy an 8 point hiring process to ensure their site users have access to the best candidates with top-notch developing skills, communication, and personalities. They offer talent in a diverse set of fields including Java, Python, iOS, and PHP.
They’ve worked for big-name brands like Microsoft and Lego. However, Upstack has a diverse talent pool that’s highly scalable depending on the size and scope of your business.
Visit UpstackRead our Upstack Review.
Fiverr
Best for small projects and gigs
As one of the largest freelancing job boards on the web, Fiverr is a proven platform for connecting with prospective freelancers. The site aims to streamline the process of connecting developers with clients in a way that’s efficient for both sides.
You can contact a developer by selecting their profile if you think you’ve found a good fit. Once the terms for a project has been finalized, clients pay the developer upfront. You have about three days to read over the finished product and decide whether to accept a project submission or reject it to get a refund.
Clients look through the site’s list of freelance developers by using its robust filter tools to find the right fit. You can filter developers based on their price range, body of work, and much more.
Fiverr is great for finding developers with a specific niche, as the site has categories for practically any type of development service. For example, if you click on the mobile application development link, it’ll let you sift through candidates based on even more specific guidelines, such as custom app development or web-to-app conversions.
Visit FiverrIf you still want more ideas, here’s a full list of the best sites to find freelance programmers.
Developer Hiring Guides
If you are looking for other types of technical talent, we’ve put together hiring guides for these technologies as well.

- Unity
- Salesforce
- iOS / Android
FAQs
Where can I find a CakePHP developer?
There are many places where you can find and hire a CakePHP developer online. If you're looking for a full-time developer, you can try popular job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn. For the best freelancers, consider using a remote hiring platform focused on placing programmers like Upstack or Toptal. You can also find CakePHP developers on general freelancing marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr.
How much does it cost to hire a CakePHP developer?
The average salary for a CakePHP developer is comparable to that of a PHP developer, which is $88,388 per year in the United States. When hiring a CakePHP freelancer, you can expect to pay $46.92 on average per hour. CakePHP freelancer rates can range from $8-$85 per hour depending on the developer's experience, where they are located, their availability, and other programming languages required.
What are the most important skills to look for in a CakePHP developer?
Since CakePHP is primarily used for web scripting, a CakePHP developer should know the different technologies that go into a website. They should also have a good understanding of core CakePHP and PHP concepts such as object-oriented programming (OOP) and the model-view-controller architecture pattern.
What does a CakePHP developer do?
To put it as simply as possible, a CakePHP developer designs and develops software using the CakePHP framework and PHP programming language. In addition to programming, continued development, and optimization, they will also be required to maintain existing webserver code, and debug code when a problem occurs.
Who developed CakePHP?
CakePHP was developed by Michal Tatarynowicz, a Polish programmer. He published the framework under the MIT license, and opened it up to the online community of developers in 2005.