Hire deeply-vetted Drupal developers

In recent years, Drupal has emerged as a leading CMS for enterprise-level organizations. As a powerful and robust open-source framework, many businesses are confident using the CMS platform. However, to successfully build a high-performing Drupal site, you require a talented Drupal [web developer] (https://www.turing.com/hire/web-developers) with substantial knowledge and skillset.

When looking for talent, it is essential to select the right developer to take charge. A specialist who can own and drive the development process and build custom solutions while spearheading several business aspects should be considered.

As you interview your candidates, you’ll want to discuss the skills they have to offer and how those skills apply to developing applications. To make this easier for you, we’ve outlined several areas your developer should be skilled in and possible interview questions to ask. With this, you should be prepared to hire a Drupal developer who will create the perfect Drupal website for your business requirements.

At a high level, Drupal developers should have the following skills in their arsenal:

There are foundational coding languages that a talented Drupal developer will need to be familiar with to work effectively. Since Drupal version 7 was built using PHP, and Drupal version 8 was built using Symfony - a PHP framework, it is essential for the candidate to have working knowledge of PHP and its frameworks.

Drupal modules enable site integration with different third-party tools and services. In this way, your website can become a hub for accessing most of your most frequently used tools from one place, as well as a more highly customized tool for your website visitors to use.

While there is no specific list of modules the developer should include on a website, they should be generally familiar with installing the Views, Panels, and cTools modules. In addition to installation, you should also check to ensure the developer can build custom modules.

The theme of your site will significantly influence the appearance or user interface and the user experience you provide. Aside from a strong understanding of UI/UX architecture, using proper themes on the website is essential. While the Drupal community offers multiple themes to choose from, you may find out that some themes will not meet your design requirements. Particularly, If you anticipate that your site will require a more unique theme, you should ensure that your developer can create a custom theme if necessary.

Another essential skill to look out for while hiring professional Drupal developers is a sound understanding of how to deal with databases. It is a necessary skill for developers to enable operations, such as creating, inserting, updating, and deleting records. Without this skill, it’ll be challenging to build highly performant applications or software.

Developers utilize Git and GitHub to achieve version control across different project sizes and types. Git aids developers to work more effectively by providing an easier way to manage the project files. Moreover, by storing code in a GitHub repository, the developer can save the code for each version of your Drupal project built along the way. With this, if something goes wrong with the code in the future, you can always revert to a previous version.

With Drupal as your platform of choice, you are likely aware of the excellent security it offers. While it may be one of the most secure systems out there, however, it’s not immune from security threats. As such, an experienced Drupal developer needs to understand the steps to take in keeping the site safe from cyber risks and threats. To ensure a safe and secure site or application, the developer will need to take additional measures, such as installing security modules to block bots and access to valuable files, among other things.

The ability to identify bugs in the code is a must-have skill for developers. While no developer can notice every potential error or issue during the coding process, addressing such errors can save time and prevent further issues from occurring down the road. Debugging during development is helpful; addressing bugs that arise once the site goes live is even more critical. Hiring a Drupal developer capable of delivering post-launch maintenance will go a long way to ensure your site is bug-free, up-to-date, and provides the best-in-class user experience.

Creating a hiring funnel offers several benefits, like assisting you in selecting the top skills and identifying the right Drupal developer who will fit into your company's culture. Recruiters widely use this approach to shortlist the best applications and adequately vet suitable candidates.

Whether you're an IT recruiter or a project manager, you are aware that finding the best developers is vital to the success of your project. Here are some sample interview questions to use when looking for a new Drupal developer.