Programming is work for most of us, so that makes sense.

As my father in law would say, they don’t call it work because it’s fun.

Work is what we do for others, hobbies are what we do for ourselves.

In some cases, those 2 things align but that's a happy coincidence and is often not sustained.

If you focus instead on whether or not you're actually creating value for someone else, then work can be enjoyable even if it doesn't feel like a hobby.

Is someone paying you to do it?

"Feels like work" and "Getting paid for it" are not always related.

Some people happily program and get paid for it but it doesn't feel like work to them. They can be incredibly productive because they're exactly where they want to be in life.

Now take that person that might hate the spotlight and ask him to do a weekly demo. That's just going to be misery for everyone involved.

My point is - if you are not getting paid, you can just decide not to do things you dont feel like.

But if you are an employer getting paid, only an insuffereable primadonna would object to a reasonable task because it “feels like work”.