As you and I know, it doesn't take passion to start coding or even make money off of it.
All you need are some skills. But how far does it really take you?
You can start to code with or without passion. But to make something substantial, I personally feel some amount of passion is necessary.
Let me go over something I've experienced in my life.
I was introduced to C and C++ early in college. I absolutely hated that language. It made me hate programming itself.
I used to think to myself, man even after I graduate, I'll probably just stick with music and make a career off of it, I can't code. But, turns out I can.
Everyone can.
Once I got into LG as a test engineer, it took me a while to realize that I am hungry for more.
And I got that 'more' in coding. I began to learn Python. Was interviewed and moved internally into an AI Team which built internal tools to test the AI models developed by LG.
And the rest is just history. I actively learn new languages and skills I can use to build stuff.
My passion for building was always there. I learned to channel it into coding, building software that helped me and others solve some problem.
People can still code only to make money, and nothing's wrong with that.
I just find it beautiful when you do something with passion. There's something divine about it.
In summary, you can code without passion.
But a lot of magic happens when you do something with passion.