Are there websites with posted problems that have a price someone is willing to pay for the software solution?

I was sort of looking to get into programming, but I've always struggled to just "play" with crap. Like I don't take sand and make sand castles and sand planes and sand beds for fun, but if I saw a problem that required a sand solution to solve I would learn how to structure sand and make it as optimally as I could. I guess having a problem to solve that returns interesting value for either myself or others motivates me a lot. I enjoy the process of designing the solution more than playing around until I eventually stumble onto something that could return real value.

So in line with this way of processing, I was wondering if there are boards or something where people need a software solution to their problems and they just post them. Software freelancers could either make the program for free, or if the people were able and willing to vet the programs submitted and pay for the best one it would be both good experience for building a portfolio and a little bonus money on the side.

Are there websites for this purpose so that I don't feel like I'm just playing around in sand aimlessly?