I think those who "derive great pleasure from writing uninspired code" are mostly enjoying their well paying job.

Very few people actively enjoy laboring for others. That's why they need to pay you to do it.

I enjoy building my own projects, but I have never found work stimulating unless I maneuvered myself into a position where I could learn something new. Unfortunately once you learn that new thing, and then refactor it as far as you can, you're back to boring uninspired work again.

Not to mention the parts of work which are actively terrible. Like hunting down a bug in a dependency.