So i did internships starting in middle school, through college, and got a job from them after graduating. So i think i have a great ability to answer this. My

So i did internships starting in middle school, through college, and got a job from them after graduating. So i think i have a great ability to answer this. My first internship was after middle school. It was unpaid and it was at a research lab that my fathers friend worked at. It was in MechE work. Did that for a summer. Then, i told someone who ran the lab i wanted to go into medical sciences, and he called up some one at a sister lab who did physiology research. I did that paid for a summer. The next summer i went back, and helped them with data science work where i realized i wanted to do CS stuff. They hired me for a third summer to work on data acquisition applications and related stuff. I continued that until college. During my free time, i was writing my own smart home hub, and i had it on my resume. Showed that to a company at career fair, they hired me on the spot (or almost). TLDR: You really need a network to get it without any skill or validation. Projects can help you show initiative and basic skill.