Where can I find work to improve my skills?

Question

Freelance

Conditions:
I am under 18 years old, part-time from half to full day (different on different days).
Necessary:
​​I would like to find a job (albeit a low-paid one), preferably remotely. The main goal is to improve skills.
The first thing that comes to mind is freelancing, but as far as I know, people work there not at all to improve their skills, but to snatch more money. Accordingly, projects are often crooked, on crutches and this usually does not bring new knowledge.
I myself have repeatedly looked through the offers of employers on freelance platforms. And, most often, I either do not have enough knowledge (I recently moved into a new industry for myself), or more than a dozen people have already answered the employer, which significantly reduces my chances (as a beginner on this freelance platform) to receive this project, or the employer describes the necessary skills in such a way (and often half is not needed, it seems to me), that it seems to me that I will not pull such a project.
Trying to do something on your own is also not an option, because there is too little motivation. And there is little motivation, mainly because there is no guarantee that it will bring you at least some money. And in general, no ideas come to mind about what could be created (except for the primitive). Previously, there was always an incentive, because I liked to learn something new, create beautiful things, but over time it disappeared. Probably due to the fact that all my developments did not go beyond my local PC. Also, lately I can’t create something on my own due to the fact that there is no “mentor” who would suggest the right decisions and “bet on the true one”.
I would like to try to work in a team, where no one will drive you in the neck, poke you for wrong decisions, but will help in every possible way and generally contribute to your growth as a specialist. It would also be nice if the members of this team were interested in your professional growth, possibly with subsequent benefits for themselves.
A little about me (I'm not promoting, just trying to let you know more about myself so that it will help you give a more appropriate answer):
Ordinary student. 17 years. I started doing web development at 12. I think that there is a lot of experience in creating user-friendly interfaces, a good sense of taste. As for the backend, I recently switched to Rails. Before that, I pulled up Ruby well. When I worked with PHP, I could create my own microframework from scratch, from which I could easily get various ready-made projects.
Languages: Javascript (pure, I try not to use libraries, because they often don't make a developer's life easier, they only create additional problems, but I can also use JQuery), Ruby. HTML and CSS at the level.
As for Ruby (including Rails), I switched to it relatively recently (about six months), so there is not as much knowledge as I would like.
I want to pull myself up as a fullstack-web-developer, because I love both the frontend and the backend equally strongly.
Is there any chance for me to find something similar? And where should you look?
PS With English, everything is fine with me, the language is at the level of reading (and understanding) technical documentation and at the level of almost free expression of one's thoughts.
Thanks to everyone who read to the end.

Answer 1

Remotely rarely anyone wants to hire a person who is studying. Get a job (in the evenings, for half a day, at any rate) in the office of an outsourcing company (50+ people) for a half/quarter rate or "thank you" as a junior/intern/trainee/whatever. For half a year / a year - you will align your skills both technical and design (no less, if not more important in our industry). This is a good and fast school.
PS Concerning motivation. This is the usual laziness and lack of skill not to start nonsense things and bring non-trivial things to the end. Read books and articles. Over time, the amount of information that is not even very clear will turn into a qualitatively new understanding of the concepts of software engineering. Nobody canceled the laws of dialectics :) quantity will turn into quality :) The main thing is not to be lazy and devote at least 15 minutes to your development every day (more is better) only without gaps. Two more rules that are useful here and in general:
1) the Pareto principle (to spend your resources efficiently)
2) Sturgeon's law (to not be too serious and not overheat) :)
Finding and understanding what it is is homework :)
UPDATE : I came across this article ain.ua/2016/06/22/656143- A practical guide for those who want to become a professional web developer

Answer 2

I only once seriously vozrpinil such a "cry of the soul." To be honest, I wrote to the person from the toaster, who said that he did not know where to go and how to develop and was generally ready to work for free. He offered a job to increase his own skills and get dough out of thin air. Real, existing project. A man loved my brain for several days on Skype on the topic "why do I think that this project can be successful" (but I don't think so, we should try) and then disappeared in an unknown direction. Although the original letter was much longer than that of the author, and hopelessness was felt in it and a desire to work ...
Since then, I have been distrustful of this. If a person wants to do something - he takes it and does it. At least something, then he looks at what he needs to improve, and so on until the result is achieved.

Answer 3

The first thing that comes to mind is freelancing, but as far as I know, people work there not at all to improve their skills, but to snatch more money. Accordingly, projects are often crooked, on crutches and this usually does not bring new knowledge.

You are delirious.
Skills in themselves have no value, they are needed in order to do something useful to people. Benefits are measured in money.
Therefore, the skills you need to acquire are exactly those that are needed for real tasks in real conditions. Everything else is a hobby, not a job.
"Crooked" projects are obtained not from the fact that everyone wants to "grab more money", but from the fact that the project budget is limited and it is not possible to snatch a lot, and with low pay it is impossible to do the job perfectly, so smart people set priorities, and secondary moments work out less. And the stupid ones are sitting without money, because they cannot find a customer who would pull the budget and the deadlines necessary to do everything perfectly from all sides.
Maybe you should start with simpler freelance platforms?
You really can't handle a major project yet, especially with your approach to libraries, your hatred of money, your perfectionism (phobia of the so-called "curvature" of projects).
Why in yours? Do not overpower, you will rave about perfectionism - they will hire another. Are there few beginners without experience and without an understanding of elementary things in the science of economics?

Answer 4

the main goal is to improve skills

No motivation -> no skills -> no money. Dot. And everything is in that order!

Answer 5

Alternatively, you can try to do something useful for any open source project.

Answer 6

"I myself have repeatedly looked through the offers of employers on freelance platforms. "
IMHO There you have to graze continuously. View tasks. You can analyze what is asked more often. As a homework task, do them for yourself so that when this appears again, you can already offer a ready-made solution, or at least not swim in the question.

Answer 7

Hey!
"Trying to do something on your own is also not an option, because there is too little motivation. And there is little motivation, mainly because there is no guarantee that it will bring you at least some money."
You are mistaken. Vice versa. If there is no interest, there will be no money.
"Before, there was always an incentive, because I liked to learn something new, create beautiful things, but over time it disappeared."
Not everyone can immediately appreciate a beautiful thing. Until she became fashionable.
To "attach" it, you have to shovel tons of manure. You are ready?
"I would like to try to work in a team ..."
At this point, either you come to the workshop and cut a rail in the corner for a stable chicken breast. Or must be ready to do everything
Ready to chat.

Answer 8

write projects to friends, relatives and yourself, and then you will start learning as a team.

Answer 9

I would like to try to work in a team where no one will drive you in the neck, shove you for wrong decisions, but will help in every possible way and generally contribute to your growth as a specialist. It would also be nice if the members of this team were interested in your professional growth, possibly with subsequent benefits for themselves.

No, well, it's just a utopia. In real life, they will give you a task, for example, to modify or create some kind of module, they will say, read the documentation and figure it out. For wrong decisions, they will not beat, they will show you how to do it right, and they will tell you to redo it. Team members may be interested in your growth, so that you don’t pull them over trifles, but no one will teach you how at school and in pairs. As for the question of where to look for a job, I support Dmitry Pavlov.

Answer 10

This is a turn, let's say I'm climbing upwork for interesting projects. For me, upwork is not so much money as a cure for gray everyday life, big data and python.