I don't know exactly what a valuable programmer is, but I'll give you numbers regarding my situation, so that we talk about concrete things. I do Python/Django

I don't know exactly what a valuable programmer is, but I'll give you numbers regarding my situation, so that we talk about concrete things. I do Python/Django work and I have 3 years of experience. I have a GitHub profile which I show when applying for jobs and my profile shows that I've made 359 contributions in the last year. I have a LinkedIn profile through which details the technologies I use and the experience I have. Since the start of the year, I think I've been contacted by 10 recruiters with job proposals. I chose to work remotely though, with clients outside of my country.