Everything in IT infrastructure is done “as code” now. If you know how to code, but want to do something with real hardware and solve real problems, I’d go that route. To be more specific, IT Storage has a massive shortage of people, and it is weirdly neglected as a target career by younger folks.
I know how to code in python, powershell, C, REST APIs, etc., but I cannot stand just sitting and coding for any length of time. HOWEVER I do like writing snippets of code to solve problem and automate infrastructure. Look a NetApp certifications, Pure Storage, or one of the other leading vendors. If you’re already familiar with S3 protocol / Object Storage, look at those options. I had a position open that paid $120-140k starting salary that we had open for 9 months last year until it was cancelled. We interviewed a mountain of people, we just couldn’t find a solid candidate, and the bar was pretty low. Storage is also becoming a more and more critical part of security, as protecting intellectual property stored on storage is critical for practically every major company.