> But I somehow always knew, if I had to do this 8 hours a day, for projects I am likely not intrinsically motivated to work on, I'd likely hate it after a few weeks
You just play with programming languages on the surface. Programming is something different and chances are you won't like it.
>I envy those which managed to make this passion into a paying job without loosing the love for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
> But I somehow always knew, if I had to do this 8 hours a day, for projects I am likely not intrinsically motivated to work on, I'd likely hate it after a few weeks
You just play with programming languages on the surface. Programming is something different and chances are you won't like it.
>I envy those which managed to make this passion into a paying job without loosing the love for it.
Why envy? Just find activity you love.