Quant finance is notorious for being extremely unmotivating and depressing to work on. You say:
I'm interested in computers and programming in general, but doing it for a living ruins the joy.
Well... maybe. But maybe it's just the soulless nature of quant finance that ruins the joy. You need to quit your job, because you hate your job, and try something else. Anything else! Don't conclude that you hate programming for a living just because you hate programming at a quant finance job.
Google and the other huge tech companies is one reasonable thing to try. Yeah, it might not be the most inspirational job in the world, but based on the experience of my personal network, it's far more interesting to work at Google than it is in quant finance. If I were you, I would also check YCombinator companies for ones that are willing to hire remotely in a European time zone, since it sounds like you don't really want to live in London.
Yes, for any job, there will be periods when you're more or less engaged, but at the end of the day, there's no substitute for believing in what you're working on. I am leaving a lot of money on the table because I was depressed working on something I didn't believe in, so I changed jobs to something that pays less but means more to me.
I'm interested in computers and programming in general, but doing it for a living ruins the joy.
Well... maybe. But maybe it's just the soulless nature of quant finance that ruins the joy. You need to quit your job, because you hate your job, and try something else. Anything else! Don't conclude that you hate programming for a living just because you hate programming at a quant finance job.
Google and the other huge tech companies is one reasonable thing to try. Yeah, it might not be the most inspirational job in the world, but based on the experience of my personal network, it's far more interesting to work at Google than it is in quant finance. If I were you, I would also check YCombinator companies for ones that are willing to hire remotely in a European time zone, since it sounds like you don't really want to live in London.