[hatthew]

To me, the point of a software engineer is to write code. An experienced software engineer can quickly write quality code while also doing other responsibilities, but their fundamental job is still code. A new grad may not be good at writing code, and they may not be as good at ancillary things, but fundamentally they are still capable of writing code.

In contrast, the point of a consultant is to provide expertise in an area that some company doesn't have. A new CS grad may have more expertise in software than a non-tech company, but they definitely have less expertise in software than a tech company, and less experience in management than almost any company with more than 1 person in it.

[sfn42]

In Norway the only difference between consultants and everyone else is that we cost more and are easier to fire.

Besides that we just do software development like everyone else. And sure we have colleagues to lean on but so do the companies we work for. Most of them are huge.

[barrkel]

That's a contractor.