How do I get a paid internship as a 16yo developer?

[DISCUSSION]

Hi,

I'm 16 and I would like an internship but it seems IMPOSSIBLE to find / get one.. I mainly program in C/++ and I am quite proficient in it. I have 2 successful projects hosted on GitHub (700+ stars, 50+stars) which have a large community behind them too but no matter what I have to display, I can't get a job offer due to not having even a High School level qualification other than my GCSE results which are still yet to come.

I have also tried to email people from companies by scraping their email address' but to no avail as I haven't gotten a single response back, which is to be expected I guess.

On places like r/Internships I also see people complaining how unpaid internships are comparable to modern day slavery, which puts me off wanting one. I also have prior experience in a startup with a real job anyways which I got from connections which really made me appreciate getting paid from my labors.

I'd appreciate it if you have any tips to getting any further as I feel like I'm at a dead end.

If you're interested in my repos: github.com/uint23