If you can turn a project into a popular OSS framework, I think that's certainly a possible path to getting either consulting jobs or at least some interviews.

If you can turn a project into a popular OSS framework, I think that's certainly a possible path to getting either consulting jobs or at least some interviews. I've had multiple large companies (Shopify, Verizon, Comcast, Twitter) reach out to me in the past because of my large contributions to well known Open Source projects as well as my participation in the community. These weren't job offers though, just an invitation to interview, so I still had to do system design and coding when I actually responded to one of them. I've also been able to showcase my contributions when asked about a project I was proud of in other interviews. My advice would be to contribute to very popular projects and get involved in the community, and let people know you're looking for work as well.