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Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

zend developers - Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

Zend Framework (now Laminas) has thrived thanks to a diverse group of top developers contributing code, leading projects, sharing knowledge, and engaging the community.

Below is an updated list of the most outstanding and currently active Zend Framework/Laminas developers worldwide, selected for their open-source contributions, technical leadership in companies or startups, influential blogging or speaking, competitive accolades, and active community involvement (all factors weighed equally):

  1. Marco Pivetta
  2. Rob Allen
  3. Abdul Malik Ikhsan
  4. Gary Hockin
  5. Witold Wasiczko
  6. Maximilian Bösing
  7. Adam Culp
  8. Frank Brückner
  9. Michał Bundyra
  10. Michelangelo van Dam
  11. Matthew Setter
  12. Luís Cobucci
  13. Ralf Eggert
  14. George Steel
  15. Sascha-Oliver Prolić
  16. Ben Scholzen
  17. Evan Coury
  18. Pádraic Brady

Now, let’s delve deeper into each developer’s work, impact, and public presence.

Marco Pivetta

Pivetta - Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

Nationality: Italian

Marco Pivetta, known online as “Ocramius”, is a prominent open-source innovator and a major contributor to both Laminas (Zend Framework) and the wider PHP ecosystem. Marco was a core contributor to Zend Framework 2, where he is “perhaps most well known in the community for authoring the all-new ZF2 module system”.

He helped design the modular architecture that became a cornerstone of ZF2’s flexibility. Marco is also famous as a lead contributor to Doctrine ORM and many PHP libraries, pushing for cutting-edge practices in PHP. In his career, he has served as a software architect and consultant. As an influencer, Marco frequently speaks at conferences and user groups about advanced PHP, performance, and design patterns. He is a strong proponent of clean code and has been recognized as a PHP Core Contributor and active member of PHP-FIG.

Marco’s work on Laminas and related tools has had a deep impact on how developers write maintainable PHP applications. His open-source leadership and technical prowess make him one of the most respected developers in the Zend/Laminas community.

Rob Allen

Frameworks come and go, but writing clear, testable code is forever.

Nationality: British

Rob Allen is a Zend Framework expert and community pillar known for both his coding contributions and educational efforts. He has been programming with PHP since 1999 and was an early adopter of Zend Framework – eventually becoming a contributor to ZF1 and ZF2, as well as a member of the framework’s Community Review team.

Rob is the lead author of the book “Zend Framework in Action,” which helped countless developers learn ZF in its early years. He also created extensive online tutorials and open-source example projects, sharing best practices with the community. In addition to open source contributions, Rob has demonstrated technical leadership as the Technical Director of Big Room Internet in the UK. He speaks frequently at PHP conferences worldwide, often on topics related to Zend/Laminas, APIs, and frameworks. Rob’s ongoing involvement includes contributing to the Laminas project and other PHP projects. With his blend of hands-on coding and community training, Rob Allen has long been regarded as one of the most influential Zend Framework developers.

Abdul Malik Ikhsan

Nationality: Indonesian

Abdul Malik Ikhsan is a highly prolific open-source contributor who has made a name as one of the top Zend Framework/Laminas developers in the world. Since beginning his contributions in 2012, he climbed to become a Top 4 Zend Framework contributor globally – a testament to the volume and quality of his code submissions.

Abdul was crucial in many ZF2/ZF3 improvements and is known for promptly tackling issues and adding features across the framework’s repositories. In 2020, he was appointed to the Laminas Technical Steering Committee, helping guide the project’s direction. Aside from core framework work, he contributes to countless other PHP projects, demonstrating his all-around skill. Abdul is an active community member: he writes on his blog about Zend/Laminas tips and maintains open-source modules. His passion for the framework also extends to real-world problem solving – he has worked on migrating legacy Zend Expressive apps to Laminas (Mezzio) for companies, sharing those experiences.

Gary Hockin

Gary Hockin - Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

Nationality: British

Gary Hockin is a veteran PHP developer and Zend Framework contributor who became one of the public faces of the framework through his work and advocacy. With 15+ years of web development experience, Gary made valuable contributions to both Zend Framework 1 and 2, including helping with components like Zend\OAuth2 and various integration modules.

He also served on the ZF2 documentation team, improving developer guides. Gary worked at Zend Technologies as the Technical Lead for Training and Certification, where he helped shape the Zend Certified Engineer program and taught best practices. In the community, he’s well known for his humor and approachability – qualities that made him an excellent Developer Advocate when he later joined companies like JetBrains. Gary has spoken at numerous conferences and even organized community events.

He was also part of Roave’s team of “badass PHP developers”. His well-rounded involvement – from code contributions to teaching and evangelism – has cemented Gary’s reputation as a Zend Framework guru and community champion.

Witold Wasiczko

Nationality: Polish

Witold Wasiczko is a skilled software architect and one of the active maintainers in the Laminas community. He earned a spot on the Laminas Technical Steering Committee in 2020, thanks to his consistent contributions and community support.

Witold is perhaps best known for creating the PHP Debug Bar integration for Zend Framework 2 & 3, which greatly helped developers debug their applications – this module (ZfSnapPhpDebugBar) is “created by Witold Wasiczko” and widely used. He has also developed other ZF2 modules (like a GeoIP module and event debugger tools), showing a knack for building tools that improve developer experience. In his professional role (CTO at a tech company), Witold implements Laminas in enterprise projects and shares lessons back with the open-source community. He often answers questions on forums and was an early advocate of Laminas MVC’s community-driven addons.

Maximilian Bösing

Nationality: German

Maximilian Bösing is a core maintainer in the Laminas project and one of the framework’s bright young leaders. He is heavily involved in modernizing Laminas components. His contributions span across the framework’s ecosystem, from component development to infrastructure.

In 2020, Maximilian joined the Laminas Technical Steering Committee, underscoring his technical leadership and commitment. He is also active in community discussions, offering help on Slack and forums to other developers. Maximilian’s open-source work extends beyond Laminas – he has created and contributed to various PHP libraries. Colleagues describe him as forward-thinking and detail-oriented, always refactoring code toward better practices. By combining code excellence with approachability, Maximilian Bösing has quickly become one of the go-to figures for the continued evolution of Laminas.

Adam Culp

Adam Culp - Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

Nationality: American

Adam Culp is a seasoned PHP developer and trainer who has been a major advocate of Zend Framework within the PHP community. Formerly associated with Zend Technologies, Adam has spent years training developers in Zend Framework and PHP performance. He is the organizer of the popular SunshinePHP conference in Florida, which often features Laminas/ZF content, reflecting his commitment to community building.

Adam has contributed to Zend Framework’s ecosystem by writing and maintaining instructional content (talks like “Foundations of Zend Framework” and articles), and he served on the Zend Framework Certification Advisory Board helping define the certification exams. He is also a voting member of PHP-FIG, which underlines his broader influence on PHP standards. Adam frequently speaks at user groups and conferences about Zend Framework, security, and clean code practices. He hosts a podcast and YouTube tutorials, where he has covered Zend Framework’s transition to Laminas and how to migrate legacy ZF projects.

Through his company, Adam continues to consult and help teams modernize PHP applications. His passion for sharing knowledge and practical experience in Zend Framework make him a top figure in this community.

Frank Brückner

Nationality: German

Frank Brückner is a veteran Zend/Laminas contributor who plays a key role in documentation and community-led packages. Known by his handle “froschdesign”, Frank is part of the Laminas Technical Steering Committee and leads the Documentation Team.

He has been tireless in maintaining and updating documentation during the transition from Zend Framework to Laminas, ensuring developers have up-to-date guides. Frank is also one of the founders of the Laminas MVC Commons (“LM Commons”), a community initiative to develop new components for the MVC framework. In code contributions, he often focuses on front-end integration points and UI components – for instance, he’s credited in helping create a Bootstrap integration for Laminas MVC. Frank frequently writes blog posts on getlaminas.org’s blog, acting as a bridge between core development and the community. With decades of software development experience, including work on Mezzio and Apigility docs, Frank’s meticulous work and community stewardship make him indispensable to the Laminas project’s success.

Michał Bundyra

Nationality: Polish

Michał Bundyra is a core maintainer of Laminas who has contributed extensively across the framework’s repositories. He became a member of the Laminas Technical Steering Committee and is a maintainer of Laminas MVC, Mezzio, and Laminas API Tools (formerly Apigility).

Michał was instrumental during the transition of Zend Framework to Laminas: he even wrote the official retrospective on how they migrated the codebase to the new namespaces. He proposed and developed the laminas-cli component to streamline Console commands in Laminas apps, showing his initiative in improving developer tooling. Michał’s coding style emphasizes clean, modern PHP — he often updates components to use new language features and improve test coverage. He is also active in community forums, guiding users through migration challenges.

Michelangelo van Dam

Michelangelo van Dam - Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

Nationality: Belgian

Michelangelo van Dam is a Zend Framework expert and one of the most prominent PHP community leaders in Europe. As a long-time PHP consultant and trainer, Michelangelo has worked on countless enterprise projects using Zend Framework, often for governments and large enterprises.

He became a Zend Certified Engineer for both PHP and Zend Framework early on, and has since mentored many developers. Michelangelo is perhaps best known as the co-founder and president of PHPBenelux, the PHP user group for Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Through PHPBenelux, he has organized annual conferences and meetups that frequently include Zend/Laminas topics. In terms of contributions, Michelangelo has a knack for evangelizing best practices: he speaks at conferences worldwide about unit testing ZF apps, architecture, and developer productivity.

He’s also involved in open-source, contributing to PHP QA tools and some ZF modules, and he co-founded a consultancy (in2it) focused on high-quality PHP solutions. With his extensive public speaking and community building, Michelangelo van Dam has inspired and educated a generation of Zend Framework developers, earning him a place among the top influencers in this space.

Matthew Setter

Nationality: Australian

Matthew Setter is a technical author and developer who became a leading voice in the Zend Framework (now Laminas) community through his writing, tutorials, and open-source projects. He founded Master Zend Framework, one of the most popular blogs dedicated to teaching Zend Framework to developers worldwide.

Through clear, hands-on tutorials, Matthew helped thousands of developers master ZF2 and ZF3 concepts. His blogging effort was so impactful that it directly led to new opportunities – it helped him land software development contracts and kick-started his career as a conference speaker. Matthew also authored “Zend Framework Quick Start” guides and more recently wrote about Laminas and Mezzio on his personal site. He has contributed code and feedback to the Laminas project.

Currently, Matthew works as a software engineer and DevOps specialist, but he continues to share Laminas-related knowledge via articles and even a podcast. His dedication to educating others – through blogging, books, and talks – and his advocacy for Zend/Laminas best practices make Matthew Setter a standout figure in this community.

Luís Cobucci

Nationality: Brazilian

Luís Cobucci is a well-respected open-source developer best known for creating the widely used PHP JWT library (lcobucci/jwt) and for his contributions to the Laminas project. He brings significant security and architecture expertise to the Zend Framework community. Luís was invited to join the Laminas Technical Steering Committee in 2020 as one of its first new members, reflecting his standing in the community.

In addition to contributing code to Laminas components, he is passionate about improving software quality: he often writes and speaks about testing, clean code, and object design. His JWT library became a de facto standard for JWT in PHP, showcasing his ability to build robust security components. Luís has been active in the PHP community in Brazil and Europe, giving talks on authentication and PHP best practices. He’s also a contributor to PHP-FIG and other projects, embodying the spirit of cross-project collaboration.

Ralf Eggert

Ralf Eggert - Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

Nationality: German

Ralf Eggert is a distinguished Zend Framework author and entrepreneur who has significantly contributed to spreading ZF adoption in the German and global markets. He is the managing director of Travello GmbH and has built that company’s success largely using Zend Framework for custom web solutions.

Ralf has written several books on Zend Framework (in German), establishing himself as an expert and educator. In fact, he’s one of the few who literally “wrote the book” on Zend Framework – these publications helped many developers grasp the framework’s concepts. Ralf is also notable for his work in voice technology; he was named an Alexa Champion by Amazon for his innovations with Alexa Skills, and even in that domain he used PHP.

In the Zend community, Ralf was an early adopter and contributed by sharing knowledge at conferences and user groups. He remains involved as a member of the Laminas Advisory Board, providing guidance from an industry perspective, and as a Zend Certified Architect. Balancing technical skill and thought leadership, Ralf Eggert is regarded as one of the top Zend Framework minds in Europe.

George Steel

Nationality: British

George Steel is a core team member of Laminas and Mezzio who has been quietly driving improvements in the framework’s internals. Active in the community under the handle “gsteel”, he is both a Laminas and Mezzio maintainer and sits on the project’s technical team. George often takes on complex refactoring and compatibility tasks.

He regularly attends Laminas Technical Steering Committee meetings, providing thoughtful input on project direction. George’s code contributions span from the MVC stack to the Mezzio ecosystem, and he has authored helper libraries. Professionally, he’s known as a skilled web developer in the UK (Devon). Within the community, George engages on forums and Mastodon to discuss framework improvements and assist others. While not as publicly visible as some, his sustained, quality contributions and role in release management have earned him deep respect among Laminas contributors. George Steel exemplifies the dedicated open-source maintainer whose work ensures the framework remains modern and reliable.

Sascha-Oliver Prolić

Nationality: German

Sascha-Oliver Prolić is a developer renowned for his work on event-driven architectures in PHP and contributions to Zend Framework’s core. Sascha was an early contributor to Zend Framework 2, where he helped design the EventManager component – a key part of ZF’s event-driven system.

He also contributed to routing and the new MVC layer during the ZF2 development cycle. Beyond the core framework, Sascha made a major impact by creating the Prooph components, a set of open-source libraries for event sourcing and CQRS in PHP, which many Zend Framework users adopted.

Sascha has shared his knowledge through conference talks and articles on Enterprise PHP architecture. In the community, he is respected for bringing robust design patterns to PHP; for instance, his work on Humus packages provided Zend Framework integrations for technologies like AMQP messaging. While Sascha has recently been focusing on other languages (e.g. Haskell), he remains an active voice in PHP. His architectural contributions and push towards modern, decoupled application design have greatly influenced high-end usage of Zend/Laminas.

Ben Scholzen

Ben Scholzen - Hire 18 Trusted Zend Developers

Nationality: German

Ben Scholzen is a core contributor to Zend Framework who played a pivotal role during the framework’s formative years. He started contributing to Zend in 2008 and quickly made an impact by developing key components including the entire Zend_Application component in ZF1.

Ben’s work on Zend_Application was critical in simplifying how developers configured and ran their applications. He joined the Zend Framework Community Review Team in 2010 to help oversee contributions. For ZF2, Ben contributed major features like the new routing system and the internationalization (i18n) layer – both fundamental to ZF2’s core design. Beyond the core, he created modules such as DASPRiD/Enum and was active in ZF-Commons. Ben has long been a Zend Certified Engineer and has spoken at user groups (e.g. PHPNW) about advanced ZF topics.

He later worked as a consultant/architect, continuing to use Zend Framework in enterprise projects. Ben’s combination of early, influential code contributions and ongoing community involvement firmly establish him as one of the top Zend Framework developers of his generation.

Evan Coury

Modularity isn’t just about code reuse — it’s about enabling developers to build faster, safer, and smarter.

Nationality: American

Evan Coury is a legend in the Zend Framework community, best known as the architect of ZF2’s module system. A long-time user of Zend Framework, Evan became a core contributor who “authored the all-new ZF2 module system” that allowed developers to plug in reusable modules with ease.

This work was transformative – it set ZF2 apart and influenced other PHP frameworks in terms of modular design. Evan also contributed significantly to ZF1: earlier in his career, he built a robust e-commerce platform on Zend Framework 1 for SouthwestMedical.com, demonstrating the framework’s scalability. As an open-source advocate, he went on to found ZF-Commons, a GitHub organization that created popular community modules. Evan was the lead developer of a new open-source e-commerce project based on ZF2, showing entrepreneurial initiative. He is a Zend Certified Engineer and has spoken at conferences to teach others about ZF2 modules and best practices.

Pádraic Brady

Security isn’t an add-on. It’s a core feature, and treating it otherwise is a mistake.

Nationality: Irish

Pádraic Brady is a security-focused developer and author who significantly contributed to Zend Framework’s security components and community knowledge. Often going by “Padraic” online, he was an early Zend Framework advocate and became known for writing “Zend Framework: Surviving The Deep End,” an online book that helped many developers learn ZF1’s ins and outs.

In terms of contributions, Pádraic was largely responsible for developing Zend\Escaper in ZF2, which provides context-aware output escaping to prevent XSS attacks. He also contributed to cryptography; for example, he wrote the initial proposal and code for RSA support in Zend\Crypt and worked closely with Enrico Zimuel on password hashing (Bcrypt). Pádraic is deeply passionate about security – he created the PHP Mockery library for testing and the Humbug PHP security project. He was a founding member of the PHP-FIG as well. Within the Zend community, Pádraic was revered not just for code, but for his thoughtful blog posts on best practices and his willingness to help others.

Wrap Up

These legends represent exceptional talent, making them extremely challenging to headhunt. However, there are thousands of other highly skilled IT professionals available to hire with our help. Contact us, and we will be happy to discuss your hiring needs.

Note: We’ve dedicated significant time and effort to creating and verifying this curated list of top talent. However, if you believe a correction or addition is needed, feel free to reach out. We’ll gladly review and update the page.

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