By any measure I'm a workaholic and I love programming, but something feels off with the word "passion" in this context. I don't think you need to be passionat

By any measure I'm a workaholic and I love programming, but something feels off with the word "passion" in this context. I don't think you need to be passionate to be good at anything, what you need is motivation and practice. In the case of programming, I believe you need enough curiosity such that the dopamine hit you get from figuring something outweighs the incredible pain of getting to that point. Only by stacking up those gains over a period of years will you achieve competence. If you don't feel that satisfaction and drive to continue learning then you will definitely burn out before you are competent. In other words, I believe there's an intrinsic quality one needs to become a good programmer, but it doesn't necessarily manifest as passion.