What is the hourly rate of PHP developers in India?
Talent is the driving force behind today’s economy. Where there is talent, there is recognition, work, money, pay etc. If it is difficult to find the right people for your project in your company, you can always outsource it, and once the geographical boundaries vanish, you are left with umpteen number of options from all directions.
India is one of the most demanded places in the world for hiring PHP developers, because you can find both qualified and highly experienced developers for any project. The obvious question would be whether your investment in the offshore team will pay off in the end, so you need to be pretty careful with the team you hire, and the money you are ready to pay for them. So how much do you have to per PHP developer in India per hour? It actually depends on certain factors.
Outsourcing models of the vendor influences the prices too
The vendor will have their own pricing models when they outsource developers, and this is something to be aware of when you compare rates. The rates for hiring an outsourcing company will always be higher than having an extended team model.
If you hire an extended team model, then you will have to make investments for two main things – the developer’s monthly payment, and the office space, developer’s workstation, computer, other expenses and HR management. But for project outsourcing, the costs incurred will be far bigger because several other additional expenses do come in.
Of course, it is a well known fact that India is one of the most popular destinations for outsourcing all kinds of jobs. And since you can hire developers of varying skill levels, you can also get them for different rates.
It is very, very important to be aware of the hourly rates because you are venturing in a foreign country, and you don’t want to tread on unknown waters and make wrong decisions. There are vendors who focus on increasing their profit margins, rather than on the quality of their work. So watch this article on how you can gauge the hourly rate of a PHP developer in India.
What you need to be aware of:
Start partnership with experts in the field because they have the best talents in the industry. Several years of experience in the field is also an added advantage because the vendor will have a database of thousands of developers. However, that gives you bigger room to negotiate the prices, and the availability of unique skills is also far higher, considering the years of experience for the developer.
Now let’s get deeper into the question.
- The pay of a PHP developer is based on a number of factors:
- The length and complexity of the project
- The experience level of the developer
- The education qualifications and the technological adeptness of the developer Interestingly, there is no one-figure or one sentence answer for this.
The rate could vary from $20 to $50 per hour when you hire a PHP developer from Kochi. The rates could be higher in Bengaluru, from $50+ per hour, depending on the skill level.
However, the quality of the developer community is quite variable, so if you are looking for quality, then you must be prepared to pay more. One ideal way to tide over this issue would be to engage the developer in a short project, and then you will have an idea of his/her quality. Once you get to know their strengths and weaknesses, it would be easy to gauge whether you can retain them for a bigger project or not. By then you might prefer to shift from an hourly basis to a fixed rate basis.
However, the thing to remember is that deciding on the hourly rate will not determine the cost of the project because a lot of other factors like infrastructure, implementation in the production environment, licensing, copyrights, story mapping and so on, are centered around it.
The hourly rate of the developer will also be dependent on the location. If you choose Tier – 1 city like Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, you can enjoy the following benefits:
- Strong knowledge in his field of work
- Aware of the different offshore delivery and pricing models
- Better technical skills
- Very proficient in technical levels, with an array of skill-sets
- Much more focussed, with a penchant for deadlines
- High-level infrastructure
- Proficiency in English language is far superior
- Knowledge of the different testing frameworks, especially agile
Choosing the hourly rate scenario would be the ideal solution for companies looking for short-term projects. You have very good chances of getting quality developers that way. Both the developer and you will be comfortable working this way, and if you are not, then of course, you can stop the relationship after the project.
If you are looking for medium level developers at budget rates, then going for Tier II cities (Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Noida etc) would be a better choice. Of course, the skill of the manpower will be dependent on how much you are ready to invest. For high-level professional work, skill of the manpower cannot be compromised.
Senior developer VS junior developer: whom do you want?
While deciding on the hourly rate of the developer, make sure the vendor is open for communication. It is also very important to have a proper requirement gathering scenario where you communicate your requirement to the vendor, and the vendor makes sure he is on the same page with you.
If you are looking for expert developers, make sure the vendor doesn’t put in junior developers on the task. Certain vendors advertise high paying developers, but actually, put junior developers on the team, to make more profit. Assure integrity, honesty and transparency in work with your vendor, and the rest will follow. Have open discussions with the developer throughout the course of the project, so the work is delivered on time, and at the decided rate.
Interesting Articles:
Hourly rates of Indian web developers
PHP Developers wage rate
Picture Source: Flick.com/ Martin/ Cooper
About the author: Reema works as Thought Leader at PHPBabu.
