Career development
Gain work experience.
Turn learning into credible evidence through simulations, open source, volunteering, challenges and paid client work.
15 relevant opportunities. Always verify current eligibility and terms on the provider site.
Forage
Employer job simulations
Complete self-paced tasks designed by employers and compare your work with example solutions.
Free to participate. This is employer-designed training and work-sample practice, not employment or an internship.
Extern
Remote company externships
Work on structured real-company projects with flexible remote delivery.
Access, subscriptions, eligibility and any participant stipend vary by programme; check each listing.
GitHub
Good first issues
Find newcomer-labelled issues and build evidence of collaboration in public repositories.
Projects are community-run; contribution guidance and maintainer response times vary.
Catchafire
Skills-based volunteer projects
Use professional skills on scoped nonprofit projects and gather client-facing evidence.
Volunteer roles are unpaid and each nonprofit sets its own requirements.
Devpost
Hackathons and build challenges
Join time-boxed challenges, form teams and ship portfolio-ready prototypes.
Entry fees, prizes, eligibility and locations vary by event; many online events are free.
The Dots
Creative projects and opportunities
Discover internships, placements and project opportunities across creative technology.
Compensation and eligibility are listing-specific; verify before applying.
Upwork
Freelance project marketplace
Pitch for paid client projects and build delivery experience and testimonials.
Creating an account is free, but service fees and proposal-credit rules apply; earnings are not guaranteed.
Frontend Mentor
Portfolio coding challenges
Build realistic interfaces from briefs and receive community feedback.
Free challenges are available; premium plans and assets are optional paid access.
PortSwigger Web Security Academy
Web security practice labs
Solve realistic web-vulnerability labs and document methodology and results as practical security evidence.
Free to participate. These are hands-on training labs, not employment or client work.
pwn.college
Program security challenges
Complete structured binary exploitation and reverse-engineering challenges in an online practice environment.
Free to participate. This is practical training rather than paid or volunteer work.
CryptoHack
Applied cryptography challenges
Solve progressive cryptography and cryptanalysis challenges and maintain public write-ups where rules permit.
Free to participate. Challenges demonstrate practice, not professional work experience.
Kaggle
Data science competitions
Work with real datasets, publish notebooks and compare modelling approaches on structured challenges.
Most entry is free; rules, eligibility and any prizes vary. Participation is not employment.
Zindi
AI and data challenges
Build solutions to socially and commercially relevant data problems and publish competition work.
Participation is generally free; eligibility and prizes vary. Challenges are portfolio practice, not employment.
KodeKloud Engineer
DevOps project tasks on practice systems
Complete fictional-company tasks on live practice systems across Linux, containers, automation and infrastructure.
Basic access includes free tasks with pacing limits; paid plans unlock faster or broader access. This is simulated practice, not employment.
AWS Builder Center
Cloud architecture workshops
Follow expert-authored workshops to deploy and connect cloud services in guided practical scenarios.
Instructions and eligible sandbox environments are free. Personal AWS accounts can incur charges, so follow cleanup guidance.