The one-paragraph answer
A web developer builds and maintains the software that runs websites and web applications: the parts you see (pages, buttons, checkout flows), the parts you do not (servers, databases, payment processing), and the glue between them. Day to day that means translating a business goal ("sell online", "take bookings", "stop losing leads") into a working system, then keeping it fast, secure, and alive after launch. "Web developer" is an umbrella over at least five different jobs, and hiring the wrong one is the most expensive common mistake in this space.
The five types, honestly described
| Type | What they actually do | Solves | Wrong for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front-end | Everything visible: layout, interactions, accessibility, speed of the rendered page (HTML/CSS/JS, React, Vue, etc.) | Design-to-code, UI rebuilds, fixing what users see and touch | Databases, server logic, payments |
| Back-end | Servers, APIs, databases, auth, integrations, the machinery (Node, Python, PHP, Ruby) | Business logic, data, third-party systems, scale | Making things pretty; often indifferent to it |
| Full-stack | Both ends, shallower than specialists on each, the whole vertical slice | Startups, MVPs, small products where one brain must hold the whole system | Deep specializations (hardened security, exotic scale) |
| Platform specialists | One ecosystem, deeply: WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, its plugins, limits, idioms | Getting the platform's maximum without fighting it | Custom products the platform cannot express |
| DevOps / infrastructure | Hosting, deployments, CI/CD, monitoring, uptime | Reliability, release speed, incident response | Feature work as a main diet |
The router: your problem → who to call
- "I have a design; make it a real page/site" → front-end (or full-stack if it needs a backend too)
- "My store/site needs custom behavior the platform can't do" → platform specialist first, they will tell you if the honest answer is custom
- "I need an app: logins, data, integrations" → back-end or full-stack
- "My site is slow / down / hacked" → emergency / maintenance specialist, not a generalist learning on your dime
- "I don't know what I need" → full-stack generalist with consulting habits, and a written brief to keep everyone honest
What the work actually looks like (so you can judge quotes)
A real build is rarely "writing code" for most of its hours. It is: scoping (what is actually needed, the most valuable hours you never see), setup, building, integrating with the systems you already run, content wrangling, testing across devices and browsers, accessibility passes, performance passes, launch, and post-launch fixes. Quotes that price only "pages × rate" skip most of those line items, which is how projects end up double their estimate. The calculator and cost guide show the honest breakdown.
What AI changed about the job (briefly, honestly)
The typing got faster; the judgment did not. A 2026 developer is part reviewer-of-machine-output, part systems thinker, part operator. If a candidate cannot explain what they checked in AI-generated work, they are reselling a slot machine, the full honest essay covers that ground.
Costs, briefly
Specialists bill above generalists; platform work prices differently from custom; regions differ enormously. Rather than repeat the tables, they live where they get maintained: the rate benchmarks (by stack and region) and the quarterly rate report. When you know which type you need, the brief form routes to a scoped quote, or message directly if you would rather just ask.