Finding a CakePHP team
and when CakePHP is a good fit for your business
CakePHP is a robust and powerful framework built with the world's most popular web programming language - PHP.
That sure sounds like a lot of jargon, doesn't it?
Let's break it down into more "human" language.
What is CakePHP?
CakePHP is a set of tools that gives website developers a "head-start" when developing larger and more complex web sites and applications. It means they can "rapidly" build applications that are very custom to their business case.
It is free, open-source, and developed by a large team of contributors. Now on its fourth version, CakePHP has been around sine 2005.
We have been huge fans of CakePHP since we started working with it over a decade ago.
There are a number technical reasons for a developer to choose CakePHP for their project - but this isn't an article for developers. The goal of this article is to discuss the benefits from a business and operational perspective with approachable language and concepts.
That being said, it begs the obvious question...
Why would a business use CakePHP?
CakePHP can keep development costs down.
Since CakePHP gives web developers a head-start by handling common and complex parts of web development - it means that the overall cost of developing websites and web applications is lower.
For example, with CakePHP, your development team doesn't need to do as much heavy lifting when building secure user login systems or connecting to different database platforms.
In addition to having a strong foundation that gives developers a head start - it also provides helpful tools for common programming tasks that won't need to be written for each new application.
CakePHP is secure
At any given time, there are millions of "bots" browsing the the internet looking for website exploits to take advantage of. Some of the more common targets include applications that are wide-spread and commonly used - such as Wordpress.
CakePHP helps protect your website or web application by having a strong security foundation that prevents common exploits. Also, since most CakePHP applications are designed specifically for a business or marketing case - they are all unique. This makes it harder for potential attackers to find "common" security exploits that can be taken advantage of.
CakePHP is built for custom solutions
CakePHP, by itself, is just a set of tools that can be used to build something bigger and better. Companies will commonly use CakePHP for situations where they are trying to solve a specific business or marketing problem that a "off-the-shelf" solution can't fix (or requires significant customization).
Some examples of CakePHP use cases we have worked with in the past:
- Online portal to help travellers locate lost baggage on airlines. They can see where their bag is right up until it is delivered to their front-door!
- Time management and billing systems for large teams that need project management software to cater to their unique business processes.
- Large E-Commerce websites that need to connect with multiple systems, work in multiple languages, and charge in multiple currencies
CakePHP is fast
On the internet - speed is important. Google has come out and declared that speed is a significant ranking factor for its search engine!
Developers working with CakePHP are working with a structure that is designed for speed and optimization. This can help reduce bloat or other performance issues that you may come across when working with popular web applications.
With a number of built in tools, and a "custom approach" to building out applications - CakePHP benefits from not experiencing some of the system speed issues that come with more common and approachable web platforms.
Finding a team that can work in CakePHP
CakePHP is popular and has a large developer community. That being said, the barrier of entry to working with CakePHP requires more experience and knowledge than an entry level developer or website designer.
If you are trying to build a development team with programmers, you are going to want to be looking for those that:
- Have experience building websites or applications
- Have experience writing code in an object-orientated environment
- Have a firm understanding of MVC principals and a good grasp of the entire "web stack"
- If you are looking for a company or team that has experience in CakePHP, you can always check out CakePHP developers on UpWork
Alternatively, we are also happy to help you with your project.
We have over 20 years of combined CakePHP experience on our team and have helped design and build countless applications. We also have experience "plugging in" to your existing development team if you just need some some extra hands or consulting to help move your project forward.
We can help you have your cake - and eat it too! (I had to sneak at least ONE cake pun in here somewhere!)
