Hmm,
May be different in the UK (either that or im pretty fortunate) but I've been working in the tech industry for like 5 / 6 years since dropping out of uni and in that time im on my second job .. left my old one through choice so seems pretty stable for me, and most of the guys I went to uni with / have worked with have been in their job a long time. 
Then again though having read a few studies a "programmer" (not specified as to the specific industry on the study) tends to stay in their job for 18 to 26 months as an average... so studies say the industry does change job on a regular basis.

In regards to freelancing yes you do have to compete with other countries such as India etc, though one thing that many native English speaking countries / western european countries to have as an advantage is that the code tends to be cleaner / more maintainable. Ive done freelance work for companies basically fixing work they had Indian programmers do at first because it just wasnt working and the guys they paid simply wouldnt fix it (was sort of a we wrote it, you paid, now get lost kind of deal it seems). So a fair few companies I know are more than happy to pay more for better code / support. Also rate wise that seems pretty low .. again not sure how competitive things are out there but over here I can usually charge like $65 - $80 an hour ;o gotta love dem UK prices

4 hours ago, blueshogun96 said:

I was discouraged from doing so because I was told that you would be competing with people from other countries like India who are wiling to work for much less.

This is absolutely true. there will be foreigners making better offers than you can. Offering lower prices doesn't mean they will get the job, in fact people prefer working with others of there own country.

Show personal interest when applying for a freelance job, most of your competition will have some kind of pre-made proposal they give to everyone. Employers want to know that the person working for them cares.

4 hours ago, blueshogun96 said:

So I signed up for upwork.com

I am using a site similar to this one, I find that isn't near as good as using your own portfolio site. These sites are crowded by too many inexperienced freelancers offering to low prices and clients who can't afford to pay large wages.

I ended up using the one site only for hobby projects and stuck with it for contest that the employers can hold. 

4 hours ago, blueshogun96 said:

Since I'm used to being paid $45-50ish/hr, I set my rate at $30.  Should I set it lower?

Same problem here as with contracts, if you set your price to low people will think you aren't worth much. Keep this price and increase by a small amount every time you do a job that earns more than a 100 times your asking price.( 30 *100 = $3000)

Because this site has a reputations system I suggest only offering your first client a discount so that you can get a rating.

4 hours ago, blueshogun96 said:

Alias?  As in a different username or a different legal name?  Just want to be clear on that.

Alias, no need to change your name because of a bad job. Most employers are willing to accept that you are using a "Web name" and most of your freelance work will be over the internet. So by using an Alias you can pick what work goes into your regular portfolio and what doesn't.

Lets say you also plan on using LinkedIn, you could then use one Alias and one for Upwork. That way when someone searches the alias they only find things related to the jobs you do.

NEVER use your real name when freelancing, make it clear to the client that it's an alias. When I started out I used my name, one bad job and the spiteful client actually used my personal information to get me fired. That in turn made it hard for me to get new work.

Modern day freelancers much like the medieval ones lives and dies with there reputation. Because a lot of your clients is going to be people expecting more than what is possible you will find a few of your freelance jobs failing.

Where are you located exactly? The industry definitely varies by location. 

Also you could try a government job. I've known a lot of people who've worked for my state and I have myself in the past. While the public sector almost always pays less it's typically much more stable than the private sector. Just firing a public employee takes a lot of jumping through hoops and red tape. Unless funding to the program you work for was cut there's almost no chance you'd be taken out of your job. 

Random other jobs you might want to try:

Law Enforcement.  Not too much education required, the physical requirements keep getting lowered, they have unions, and its not really all that dangerous.  (In the U.S., more garbage truck drivers die each year than police officers, despite what the news would have you think)

FWIW, I unload trucks at Walmart.   Yes, yes, I know, the evil empire, but in my experience it is not always like that, just some bad pr and the unavoidable stream of people who have had bad experiences.

There is a long weeding out process and after about 2.5 years sticking it out I am now a supervisor with good pay and 4 days on 3 days ( in a row ) off per week.  I have found the people that I work with ( my 8 bosses ) to be highly motivated and professional.  Who would have thought?  And there is a great deal of respect.  For me it is a paradigm shift.  I have ~25 people on my crew and I have had to build and manage 30+ relationships, play politics a bit and navigate all of that personal and professional space in order to not just unload trucks but manage expectations effectively train people and make production.  Like most programmers I am a reflective and introverted type person, but I consider this one of the best opportunities I have had in my life.  I have been a supervisor before, so it's not completely new to me, but nothing on this scale - all small companies where I had one boss.  I am learning to lead, and with the ultimate goal of being a project lead and or CEO at some point in the future.

On ‎6‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 7:17 AM, samoan62 said:

Where are you located exactly? The industry definitely varies by location. 

Also you could try a government job. I've known a lot of people who've worked for my state and I have myself in the past. While the public sector almost always pays less it's typically much more stable than the private sector. Just firing a public employee takes a lot of jumping through hoops and red tape. Unless funding to the program you work for was cut there's almost no chance you'd be taken out of your job. 

I know it's old, but I kinda forgot about this thread...

I am in Seattle.  Everyone says I shouldn't have trouble finding a decent tech job out here, but that isn't so.  Microsoft has been hiring aggressively, but I didn't get a single position I interviewed for.  And now that I am currently working at Microsoft under a managed contract, unless I can get full time, I can kiss any opportunities here at Microsoft goodbye for the next 6 months at least.

I've been asked several times, "why don't you start your own company?"  Well, easier said than done.. especially when you have no money.  I wanted to do that before, but I decided to hold off because I was inexperienced and not mature enough (I likely would have failed).  And now that I have a nearly finished game, I can't release it anywhere.  Grant/loans?  Yeah, right.  My credit is f-ed and nobody is going to grant jack s@#% to some random broke black dude (not to turn this into a PC battle, but I've done plenty of searching and the vast majority of funding is for women only w/ very few for minorities, and minorities get loans at a significantly higher interest rate on average than white people so I have concluded that your best chances of getting this kind of funding is to be a white woman).  So I don't see that as a realistic goal.

So f-ing tired of this.  I think it's about time I left Seattle because I get calls from recruiters all across the board telling me that they can't get enough devs in other states/cities.  WA appears to have a surplus of devs that are willing to work for little to nothing, while the hiring companies can be as picky as they want.

Shogun

Seattle and SF have ridiculously high cost of living, high competition, and lots of companies that go bust quickly.  You might try Oregon or Texas, if you can find any jobs in those states.  (I'm in Oregon.)