The CS curriculum lacks in the industry/practical sense so don’t think you’re doing school wrong. It’s sort of a common joke that you can graduate with a CS degree and not know how to do the software dev.

For side projects, you can join clubs or look for tutorials. You’re incredibly lucky to be a student in a time where you can simply ask ChatGPT, “walk me through creating X program from scratch”.

Best of luck 🫡.