How can a Computer Science student make some pocket money (at home) while growing as a programmer?

The absolute easiest way to make money while also improving your skills is to tutor. Join the tutoring department at your school and make $20/hour (or whatever) by helping to explain code and debug the efforts of others. You'll make good money, and you'll get a lot better at exactly the kinds of things you will need to know once you graduate.

If I were you I'd aim for developing mobile apps for Android. 1. Get yourself familiarized with Java basics. 2. Find a good book on Android development for starters. 3. Don't get stuck on hello world tutorials, rather start a small android project and learn as you go. 4. After you're satisfied with that completed project, get yourself involved into other Android projects - https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/android-contrib. 5. Once you've learned enough(and have the experience of a few projects under your belt), you can charge for your work, there are lots of places online where you can get paid for Android coding skills. Charge small at first, to build a portfolio. There is no other shorter path, so don't look for one.

Open a profile on eLance http://elance.com and odesk http://odesk.com Browse for things you think you can do. Bid low. Do good work. Repeat. Raise your rates as you get more proficient.

You can try developing websites.  And sell your skills on http://fiverr.com

Compete in programming tournaments with cash prizes. See http://www.topcoder.com/

Here is how I make money (Short Answer): Freelancing Internship Events Competitions Long Answer: I'm Third Year student from Mumbai, India. I started making money last year by winning a competition about web development. This was 6 hour long competition. I was runner up and got nearly $50. In events, its not cash prize. I got Pen Drive in one event, T-Shirt in other and so on. Then I started with freelancing. By that time I was skilled enough in web technologies to do freelancing project. I worked for nearly a week and got paid nearly $80. Freelancing requires moderate level of skills to finish project on or before deadline. So once you are confident enough, start with freelancing. Now I'm doing internship in web based startup. It is basically for learning but I also get paid for it. Its task based payment. So I will get paid for each task completed. It roughly equals $80 per month. Apart from above mentioned ways, organizing events is also good way to get money. You can organize events related to programming like Meetups, Online Competitions, Hackathons etc. Of course, to organize events and to make money out of it, you will need to have good network. As being a student, you should focus more on Experience and Skills rather than making money. Thats the reason why I'm doing internship.

I'm summarizing the points for you! Most of the users have gave the answers!! First of all, I must thank other user for their insights(learned a lot)!! Secondly, learn your basics and understand it well! Thirdly, do small tasks at home to implement various fundamentals you learned and connect it in the big picture!! Fourthly, go for building your portfolio on sites like http://Freelancer.com, HackerRank, Spoj, Codechef etc. Fifth, gain insights from the fourth step and slowly but steadily start making money for the tasks you do!! Sixth, go for internships(anything that suits your profile and pays you is good - after all you are more focused on experience!!!) By the time you will be a grad, you will have become a fully fledged developer/programmer and have had a good insight/ exposure to business/ industry. Hope it helps! Feel free to comment!! Thnx for reading!

If you are older than 18 and enrolled in a university, you should try participating in Google Summer of Code. It pays you $5000 for about 4 months work during summer. You don't have to travel - just stay where you are and get the job done. If you are younger than 18, participate in Google Code In but that doesn't feature development tasks and doesn't have a prize money AFAIK.

Try to write blogs on your way of learning. That would also fetch you some money if you try to monetize them. This will also serve two other purposes 1. Creating your own reference notes for your learning 2. Sharing your learning experience with others.