[tepitoperrito]

maybe check out PICO 8. It's basically a VM (self styled fantasy game console) that runs on a bunch of devices and an active community. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

A similar project that I'm eager to hack on (or maybe try my hand at implementing something similar in WASM) is the UXN platform. https://100r.co/site/uxn.html

And if we're already talking VM platforms to explore, there's no reason that someone who doesn't want to do software professionally can't get a lot of enjoyment from some basic syntax knowledge and making modifications to software they use every day (whether that's writing a userscript in your browser or exploring your favorite game via mods)