Web hosting as the developer’s phone-a-friend

We’re fortunate to count quite a large number of web developers among our clients and collaborators.

Although we’re quite heavily involved with the developer community around our Belfast office, such as supporting the PHP Belfast group as much as we can, the developers we work with often come from further afield than that, so these local connections are not the only explanation.

That got us thinking about why we are a popular choice for web developers. Indeed, that led to a topic of conversation in the office recently: what makes for a web host that appeals to web developers?

Here’s what we came up with…

Speaking a developer’s language

Literally. It really helps if the hosting company is proficient in the coding language favoured by the developer. If the support engineers that are their first point-of-contact when getting in touch with the hosting company have this technological knowledge, that is going to avoid a lot of frustration on the developer’s part. We were born as the ‘hosting bit’ of a web development agency, so development is really in our blood.

Acting as a sounding board

Following on from that point, dealing with someone who is technically proficient also offers the web developer the chance to use the hosting company as a sounding board. They can bounce ideas around about improving site performance or avoiding potential problems. The similar yet slightly divergent areas of expertise of host and developer cover quite a broad area of technical knowledge.

Being a phone-a-friend

We think this is the key one. The biggest help a web host can be to a developer is as the first number to call when the going gets tough. If something goes wrong with a client’s site, being able to get a quick and accurate assessment as to whether it is a server issue or a coding issue is something we know our clients value.

So, that’s the hosting point-of-view. Over to you, developers: what do you look for in a web hosting company?