Don't down talk about freelancing too severely doc. It seems to me that perhaps even a majority of the best access minds out there ended up freelancing and that's how they started their business.
In the music industry, I free-lanced as well - as a primary source of funds for books and tuition. I lived with my parents and had no time for a social life. But my own experience was that, because I didn't have name recognition, getting a good gig that would GAIN some recognition was a monster of a problem. It's part of the reason that I became an analyst (both chemical and computing).
I had long talks with folks in the music industry, folks with limited but non-zero name recognition, and they spelled out the life of a not-quite-famous-yet musician whose address is the license plate on the bus. Coming out of college with my bachelor's degree, I still had a choice - but decided that I didn't want to pay the price of living the life of an itinerant musician with no wife, kids, and no long-term stability. I didn't want to live from gig to gig hoping for an adequate paycheck. I opted for stability and now I'm a comfortably retired grandpa, so I got what I wanted.
You are correct that when using free-lancing as part of a strategy to spring-board into something more permanent, it can be a good thing. I simply think that the employment market has a glut of aspiring professionals (wannabees). In ANY field, not just programmers.
There is also the other side of that situation - time. We have a limited time here on Earth. If you really ARE a person who enjoys programming that much, then perhaps it is a form of recreation for you, and I wish you well in that endeavor. I have other interests besides programming and also I remember being a workaholic while my mother was going downhill with Alzheimer's. In that case, work was my escape from being a caregiver. But once she was gone, I wanted a real life and found my way there.
The life of a free-lancer DOES include uncertainty. I guess you could say the other side of the coin is either dedication, determination, or desperation.
Speaking of free-lancing,... there's the guy whose wife usually gave him a rough time, nagging him relentlessly over his inadequacies. One day, he started packing. She said, "What do you think you are doing?" He said, "I've had enough of your negative attitude. I'm going to move to New York and be a free-lance gigolo at 50$ per sex act." She starts packing. He asks, "OK, what's that about? Where are YOU going?" She replies, "I'm going to New York to watch you live on 50$ per month."
