Hire a Dedicated Joomla Developer

The purpose of this article is to provide insightful information about hiring a Joomla developer or expert for your next project.

About Me

My name is Jacob Hodara, founder and senior Joomla developer at IDL Web Inc. I began my web development career in the year 2000, since 2005 focusing mainly on web development using Joomla (and Mambo for those who remember). Initially, I started developing Joomla templates, today we provide a complete set of Joomla Services for a global Joomla client base.

Over the years, I’ve dealt with thousands of customers and websites & understand how difficult it is to hire Joomla developer who is an expert. This article is a combination of 17+ years of experience, it’s goal – to help you find right Joomla Developers for hire.

Can anyone become a Web developer for Joomla?

The short answer is yes.

Anyone ‘can’ say they are a professional Joomla developer in this online world.

Use this checklist to assess the developer

Email the developer – see how quickly they respond.
Lookup their LinkedIn profile, do they have any recommendations?
Ask the developer for reference links. Not just links, ask what specific tasks they completed when building this website.
Find out how long has the developer been in business.
See if the developer has any reviews, such as on Google, Yelp or other popular review sites.
Request a short phone or Skype call. This should give you a good indication of their level of professionalism.
Ask the developer some extension recommendations, example: “What form builder do you prefer using and why?”
Is the developer Joomla certified? (Joomla Certification Program was introduced in recent years)

What skills should a Joomla Developer posses?

PHP, HTML, CSS, JS/jQuery
Joomla site / server security
Knowledge of core Joomla
Proper knowledge of Joomla overrides
Proper knowledge of Joomla templates
Joomla MVC

What about hiring a Joomla Developer offshore?

If you currently own a website, there is a good chance an offshore company has reached out to you by now.

Over the years, we’ve heard some bad experiences with offshore companies.

Timezone issues – If you run into a ‘web emergency’ during business hours, is the offshore team available? It may be 3AM where they are located.
Communication – Trying to communicate ideas, instructions and directions can be difficult.
Team Leader – You may be dealing with a team leader who then has to pass on information to his team. Though this is not a problem, expect a ‘broken phone’ approach where specific details can be missed or mistranslated.
Cost – $10/hour is a great price, but if it takes 5-10 hours to complete where is the cost saving?