[_lvbh]

It's very difficult. If you're in the UK, most uni students are struggling with internships as well.

If you're looking for money, bug bounties may be worth a look. That's what I did 16-17 and it paid for my uni tuition. They look nice on the CV as well.

It used to be that you could do freelancing but these days, low level work is simply handed over to AI.

Another route might be hackathons. I know Huawei's annual Tech Arenas are about to start (UK, Ireland, Munich, etc) and they hire the top 3 teams from each. Interns get paid pretty well but the competition is harsh (mostly attended by PHDs and masters students).