Don't Do It Yourself
How to Hire PHP Laravel Developer

Vetting Laravel Developers: Job Description & Interview Questions

The open-sourced, free PHP-based framework, Laravel, is popularly used for developing web applications. It follows a model-view-controller design pattern that allows developers to create databases, websites, and forums.

Though it’s designed to be easy to understand, it’s safe to say the average layperson can read that description and not understand a word of it.

We made this step-by-step guide to help you hire the best programmers that specialize in Laravel so that you don’t have to do it yourself.

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What is Laravel Used For?

Laravel is a framework for the PHP programming language to assist with the development of website back-end logic.

Here are some common uses of the Laravel framework.

Web Applications

The primary use for Laravel is to develop web applications. Developers can use Laravel to write back-end logic in the PHP programming language. Over 600,000 websites have used Laravel in their development.

APIs

An API (application programming interface) is an application that acts as an intermediary between software applications, allowing businesses to share data and functions. Common open-source APIs include the Twitter API for accessing tweets and the Open Weather Maps API for getting weather data. Laravel is often used to develop custom APIs as well.

What to Look for When Hiring a Laravel Developer

When hiring a Laravel 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.

Laravel Required Skills

Here are some of the basic skills that a Laravel Developer is expected to have:

  • Standard library functions and algorithms such as sorting data
  • Laravel and PHP use
  • Querying databases with SQL

Laravel Experience

Laravel developers should have some experience with the following:

  • Standard Laravel 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 Laravel Developer Job Description

Writing the perfect Laravel 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.

Laravel 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 Laravel 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 Laravel 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 Laravel 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

Laravel Interview questions

When looking to hire a Laravel developer, consider asking some of the following interview questions:

  • What is the difference between static and dynamic websites?
  • How can you reduce memory usage in Laravel?
  • What is a Controller in Laravel?
  • How do you define a constant in PHP?
  • Why are migrations important?
  • What is the difference between the insert() and insertGetId() functions?
  • What default packages exist in Laravel?
  • When would you use include, and when would you use require?
  • How can you enable the query log in Laravel?
  • How do you connect to a MySQL database in PHP?
  • What are the different types of errors in PHP?
  • How can you debug code or catch errors?

Freelance Laravel Developer Rates

The average salary for a Laravel developer is comparable to that of a PHP developer, which is $88,388 per year in the United States. When hiring a Laravel freelancer, you can expect to pay $50.20 on average per hour. Laravel freelancer rates can range from $30-$100 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 Laravel Developer – Top Websites

Read out list of the top websites to hire a Laravel developer.

Developer Hiring Guides

If you are looking for other types of technical talent, we’ve put together hiring guides for these technologies as well.

Programming Languages
Top Programming Languages
Frontend Frameworks
Top Frontend Frameworks
Backend Frameworks
Top Backend Frameworks
Content Management Systems
Content Management Systems
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
  • Unity
  • Salesforce
  • iOS / Android

FAQs

Where can I find a Laravel developer?

There are many places where you can find and hire a Laravel 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 Laravel developers on general freelancing marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr.

How much does it cost to hire a Laravel developer?

The average salary for a Laravel developer is comparable to that of a PHP developer, which is $88,388 per year in the United States. When hiring a Laravel freelancer, you can expect to pay $50.20 on average per hour. Laravel freelancer rates can range from $30-$100 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 Laravel developer?

Since Laravel is primarily used for web scripting, a Laravel developer should know the different technologies that go into a website. They should also have a good understanding of core Laravel and PHP concepts such as object-oriented programming (OOP) and the model-view-controller architecture pattern.

What does a Laravel developer do?

To put it as simply as possible, a Laravel developer designs and develops software using the Laravel 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.