I think that any kind of “modern ops” necessarily includes coding, even if there isn’t a ton of Python or Rust being generated as part of the workflow.
Kubernetes deployment configurations and Ansible playbooks are code. PromQL is code. Dockerfiles and cloud-init scripts are code. Terraform HCL is code.
It’s all code I personally hate writing, but that doesn’t make it less valid “software development” than (say) writing React code.
I think you have it backwards. Systems engineering is the big picture discipline of designing & managing complex systems while config management is a specific process within that.
Kubernetes deployment configurations and Ansible playbooks are code. PromQL is code. Dockerfiles and cloud-init scripts are code. Terraform HCL is code.
It’s all code I personally hate writing, but that doesn’t make it less valid “software development” than (say) writing React code.