I will start off by saying that this was no easy task, and that it took me six years to finally get my first paying job. It was not related to programming.
My life was an average one until the first year of college, when things took a massive turn. I suddenly wanted to become a League of Legends pro player. I knew it was a big risk, but I took it nonetheless. Long story short, it affected my mental health immensely. I developed psychosis and spent time in a psych ward due to the immense pressure from the path I chose.
I dropped out of college four times, three times from different majors, one of them being computer science. At that point I was 25 years old, mentally unhealthy, and had never worked a day in my life.
So how did I get a job?
I applied to everything. Over the course of two years nothing worked, but I never gave up. After a while I became hopeless, but I made my own luck. The thing that clicked was the National Agency for Employment. I began applying to data entry jobs, and really to any job that involved computers. I refined my CV over and over again, still with no luck.
Then there was a mandatory in-person meeting event where people had to go to find a job. There I met someone I could relate to. I did my best to impress him, and I finally got a minimum wage job in data entry.
From there, I used my programming skills to increase the efficiency of my work two-fold. I was so excited. I finally understood it: college did not matter as much as I thought. Nothing mattered more than problem-solving skills in the real world.
By solving real problems and pain points, I gained confidence. I built the best Upwork profile I could think of. At first I was not getting work, but after a while I got an email. It was not related to programming either, but I did my best to complete it. I got a review, and then I started getting messages consistently.
All in all, confidence is key. Solve your pain points and make sure you have no regrets when making a decision. Feel free to ask me anything. I will be happy to help.