Frustrated by the trouble he's having finding a really good PHP developer to fill a few positions, has posted about this process he's been going through - the good, the bad and the downright ugly - of trying to find those right, qualified folks.

During the last six month or so, I've been looking to hire a PHP programmer for at least three companies. I have spoken to quite a few people on the phone, reviewed a bunch of resumes, and even interviewed a few. Out of all those candidates I recommended to hire exactly zero.

Some of the "roadbumps" he experienced along the way include the interviewees inability to write down code without a computer and them giving either the wrong or no answers to simple, common knowledge computing questions. So, he came up with a list of what he calls the "roots of the problem". Included in the list are things like:

• PHP is an ugly language
• PHP is rich with secondary reasons
• PHP is getting mature
• PHP avoidance

Also be sure to check out this response from Nick Jenkins to Leonid's post.

UPDATE: Leonid has also posted a follow-up post with a few corrections and clarifications of the original post.