Would doing more serious paid coding side-projects on UpWork get you experience that would make you look more authentic to potential employers? You might need to give some time to this strategy, i.e. a year or so.
I only heard about SCRUM (to do / doing / done board) about a year ago, but it is my main go-to framework for productivity now. It let's you chalk up simple or very complex tasks and gives you an instant visual of where they are in terms of completion. You can do it digitally, but I prefer a physical board in my workspace. It let's me complete offload the anxiety that's mentioned in the article about trying to juggle/remember/prioritise tasks.
"Those who previously can't afford or don't want to live in big cities like NYC/Seattle/SF because they are older, have families, or various other reasons now are included in the candidate pool."
Yeah this exactly. Yet another giant step towards a borderless world. Next up is a passport granting universal access to live and work anywhere and a decentralised currency.