I recently came across "Consulting vs. Contracting" which I thought provided some interesting opinions on being a consultant vs. being a contractor. I've worked in a pseudo-consulting shop for the past 5 years and think in general the opinions of the author of the post are accurate. I wonder how many "contractors" feel the same way though. As I've mentioned a couple times on this blog I often wonder if I'd like the "independent life." There are definitely some appealing things about it, but of course there are also some negatives. The other thing I wonder is how many people who "go independent" do so as a contractor vs as a consultant. I would think it'd be much easier to start as a contractor, is it? How many "independents" would consider themselves a "contractor", ok, now how many would consider themselves a "consultant"?