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Arbor Digital

It's 2025, Do You Need a Developer?

It may surprise you to “hear” a developer say this, but you really might not need a developer. There are a lot of fantastic tools out there for small (and large) businesses that can solve a lot of problems that developers solve. Need an eCommerce site? It’s cheap and fast to start up a site with Squarespace, Shopify, or even Etsy. Need a basic website that doesn’t need a custom design? Again, services like Squarespace, Wix, WordPress.com, and many others can help you make great progress with your digital presence.

Certainly, doing it yourself can save you a lot of money.

There are a few things that I would ask you to consider as you think about a DIY approach:

  1. Do you want to deal with the learning curve and time commitment to set something up and get it to look “just right?”
  2. Who will you call when the site goes down for some reason?
  3. Do you really want to spend time managing DNS, hosting, SEO, and making sure your website is always updated with current information?
  4. What about platforms that unexpectedly close?

So, maybe you want or need a developer. Maybe you don’t. Either way, there are pros and cons and your situation is different than someone else’s.

If you decide to hire a developer, I’d recommend you consider the following:

  1. What do you want the developer to do? Manage the whole site or just help with a couple small tasks?
  2. What’s your budget? Having an idea in mind of what a developer is worth to you can help determine whether or nor it’s feasible for you to hire the kind of developer you need.
  3. Communication: Can you effectively communicate with the developer you’re considering? Making sure that your availability and theirs overlaps and that you can (linguistically and culturally) understand each other can alleviate a lot of potential stress and misunderstandings.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck! If you want to see how I might be a fit for your needs, use my contact page to get in touch; I’d love to chat with you.

Photo by Nubelson Fernandes on Unsplash

Published May 26, 2025 by Toby Chin