Context: I was 17 about 5 years ago, and was also coding at the time (but definitely not at a "relatively high level"!). At 17 I was also quite focused on maki

Context: I was 17 about 5 years ago, and was also coding at the time (but definitely not at a "relatively high level"!). At 17 I was also quite focused on making money doing stuff like freelancing, and I did do some, but unless you/your family have a desperate need for more money right now (I hope you don't, and I'm thankful that I didn't) then I think it's a bit pointless - freelancing/consulting is a great gig if done through the "right" channels, but doing it via Upwork (back in my day the big one was GetACoder.com) isn't particularly fulfilling imo - it's a race to the bottom in terms of money and quality, and you're competing with people outside the UK/US for whom the pay on these sites is actually alright. Making money at 17 is quite nice though and I'd probably recommend doing it for a short amount of time, just to realise that being rich for your age isn't actually that exciting. If I were you I wouldn't worry too much about doing an internship right now, unless there's a company that you really really like. Just focus on improving your skills, and do cool stuff that you find interesting, whether that's working on open source, random website/app ideas, learning theoretical CS/maths, whatever. Being good at coding is a great skill to have, so if you enjoy it then it's great to regularly do it and get better, but don't forget about the rest of your life - don't get too bogged down in having to do this stuff 24/7, despite all the news stories you probably hear about 17 year olds making $$$ from their [app/website/startup]. Make sure you're happy and healthy day-to-day :) On the coding side of things, I regret not learning theory and how to do things "properly" sooner - I spent the first few years hacking together web apps semi-blindly without bothering to brush up on technical knowledge, which I think slowed me down in the long-term, so find a good balance between "learning by doing" and "learning by reading" imo.