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Top mistakes that companies make in php development

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There’s a lot that can go wrong. Fortunately, people have been working in PHP for 25 years, and it’s gotten a lot easier to achieve success.

It takes a lot to get a PHP project off the ground. First, the company or person with the idea needs to determine what they want and need from their app or website. Then, they have to hire the right company, and determine how to work together to create the best possible project. There’s a lot that can go wrong. Fortunately, people have been working in PHP for 25 years, and it’s gotten a lot easier to achieve success.

Although we’ve said before that communication is key to any successful web development project, the truth is that sometimes miscommunications do happen. In order to increase your chances of success, it’s important to be aware of the mistakes that occur most often.

Let’s walk through some of the most common mistakes that companies make in PHP development. If one of them looks familiar to you, don’t worry! It’s never too late to walk back a bad policy or repair relations with your developers.

HIRING UNTRAINED DEVELOPERS

In development, like in life itself, you get what you pay for. Setting a budget is a key part of the initial creative process, and it’s something that every individual or company with a web development project in mind should determine before they start interviewing developers. If you go in without a budget, it becomes very tempting to look for the cheapest developer or company available. This often leads to hiring new and untrained developers, or a company that’s just getting on its feet.

If you don’t know that much about PHP development, hiring an untrained developer is not a good idea. It’s like rolling the dice with your project. Sure, they might have what it takes, but it’s difficult for you to know that. It’s a much better idea to hire a company with proven bona fides, so you can have confidence in their work.

HIRING A SINGLE DEVELOPER

In a bid to save money, some companies who need web development work done fall into the trap of hiring a single full-stack developer. Besides the fact that this is an unbelievable amount of work for a single person, not everyone can be a fantastic developer while managing the other aspects of a project that make it successful. Jumping back and forth between coding and project management can be very stressful. These skills use very different parts of our brain, and someone who tries to do it all will quickly fall behind.

That’s why it’s a better idea to hire a company who specializes in PHP development. The ideal development company hires a mix of people, each with their own strength, so they can execute a project well in a shorter amount of time.

NOT CARING ABOUT SECURITY

With the amount of data breaches that have happened in the last five years, not caring about security isn’t an option anymore. Companies ranging from Marriott International to eBay to Equifax have all had their systems hit by hackers, compromising the personal information of hundreds of millions of customers. Many people predict that the big issue of the next decade will be privacy. In order to earn the trust of potential users and customers, companies are going to have to take their cybersecurity seriously.

The best approach to security is both proactive and defensive. It takes threats seriously, putting safeguards in place right from the beginning. Many vulnerabilities in PHP have already been identified, and can be accounted for with stringent security measures. The best development companies take these vulnerabilities seriously, and are able to explain what security measures they’re putting in place to defend against hackers.

It’s also important to maintain a defensive approach to security even after the project is in active use. Companies who take security seriously should be running ongoing workshops for staff on security best practices, so even their non-technical staff know what to do when confronted with a potential security issue like a phishing attack.

NO REGULAR MAINTENANCE

Did you know that on average a server performs 14% poorer every single year? In order to maximize the efficiency of your product- whether it’s a website, app, or ecommerce platform- you need to be doing regular maintenance.

A good web development company will likely give you a proposed maintenance plan, and it’s a good idea to listen to their recommendations. After all, they’re the ones who are building the platform, and are going to do the best they can to ensure that it’s functional for as long as possible.

Undergoing regular maintenance improves functionality on your servers, and is a great way to ensure that you’re regularly scanning for potential security vulnerabilities. Think of regular maintenance like going to the doctor. You’re going to be healthier and get more out of life if you go to the doctor for checkups regularly. If you wait until you’re extremely ill or in a huge amount of pain, you’re risking your long-term health and well-being.

AVOID THESE MISTAKES BY LISTENING TO YOUR DEVELOPERS EXPERTISE

Ultimately, the development team that’s working on your project knows the most about your technical requirements. The ideal relationship between a development team and their clients is one of collaboration and compromise. However, many of the mistakes we’ve explored today can be avoided by listening to the wisdom that your development team has cultivated over their many projects. If you’re working with a good team, you should trust that they have your best interests at heart and are giving you advice that’s meant to ensure the success of your project.