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I'm not sure if I see your point as it relates to the article. Are you saying that you think I should be describing another path apart from the ones I have list

I'm not sure if I see your point as it relates to the article. Are you saying that you think I should be describing another path apart from the ones I have listed? I get that the difference between the level of services you're describing for a "consultant" vs. a "contractor," but I think that has more to do with the capacity of the individual contractor/consultant than the label itself.

mindcrime 13y ago
No, not making any comment about the content of the article... it's a great article. This is just more generally addressed to people who are thinking about going into "consulting" or "freelancing" or "contracting" or whatever one wants to call it. I just want to point out that people should be aware that just because they refer to themselves as a "consultant" doesn't mean that they will necessarily be treated as such. And again, a lot of people may not care about the distinction. For someone who is used to sitting in a cube 8-6 as a W2 employee at Initech, they won't be any worse off if they're sitting in a cube from 8-6 as a C2C freelancer. But for people who think that going freelance is the route to more respect, more freedom, and less of that "cog in the machine" feeling, then I advocate spending some time thinking about how to make that leap to "consultant who gets paid for sharing insights" as opposed to being just another (apparently fungible) nameless, faceless coder.
tommyo 13y ago
Seems the comment is trying to highlight the difference in staff augmentation consulting (what they're calling a "contractor") and strategic consulting (maybe that isn't an appropriate title, but driving business/design decisions). As someone living/working in Seattle/Bellevue as a consultant, both resource types are highly sought after, especially in larger enterprises in the area. It could be worth noting that just out of school or in a general field, it might be easier to land a staff aug gig at a larger firm than a strategic role running one's own consultant business.

mindcrime 13y ago

No, not making any comment about the content of the article... it's a great article. This is just more generally addressed to people who are thinking about going into "consulting" or "freelancing" or "contracting" or whatever one wants to call it. I just want to point out that people should be aware that just because they refer to themselves as a "consultant" doesn't mean that they will necessarily be treated as such. And again, a lot of people may not care about the distinction. For someone who is used to sitting in a cube 8-6 as a W2 employee at Initech, they won't be any worse off if they're sitting in a cube from 8-6 as a C2C freelancer. But for people who think that going freelance is the route to more respect, more freedom, and less of that "cog in the machine" feeling, then I advocate spending some time thinking about how to make that leap to "consultant who gets paid for sharing insights" as opposed to being just another (apparently fungible) nameless, faceless coder.

tommyo 13y ago

Seems the comment is trying to highlight the difference in staff augmentation consulting (what they're calling a "contractor") and strategic consulting (maybe that isn't an appropriate title, but driving business/design decisions). As someone living/working in Seattle/Bellevue as a consultant, both resource types are highly sought after, especially in larger enterprises in the area. It could be worth noting that just out of school or in a general field, it might be easier to land a staff aug gig at a larger firm than a strategic role running one's own consultant business.