But indeed that doesnt matter. Because the demand is high.
But for me, this is what drives me: working with an excellent team on a product/service that is heavily used and comes with technical challenges.
If managers, business and bad programmers interfere with this, i'd rather stop and get a decent job.
The money is not the main driver.
He says he's "in it for the money" because he's honest. No one working to earn a living is not in it for the money, and if they tell you otherwise they're delusional. I think the measure should be "Would you still program if this wasn't your job?" and if the answer is yes, then the passion is there.
I really hate it when people decry the importance of money, because money is basically our unit of human sustenance. It is what we trade for food, shelter, and clothing.
However I choose computer science because of the passion. I also had a passion for making music. But the passion and the money are the drivers. But the main driver is not the money.
A friend of mine hated piano as a child, only after many forced hours of practice (from his tiger mom) he became really good and started to win state championships for his ability. After a few more years, he developed a passion for it and played piano for fun. He never liked piano to begin with, but when he became good at it, he developed that passion.
So I'd argue that a bad programmer, after making some decent money, can become passionate at it when the initial driver started as money.
In other words, a clock-punching mentality is not enough, but neither is making it your life's mission necessary.