My take: it doesn't have anything to do with above 30

or not. It's more about attitude. To be more specific, positive attitude. Seriously, if you just want a job, coding, DBA, configuration etc they are all the same. If you want to grow, if you really do well, it's all the same too, because you can grow from all of them. But I think coding might give you broader view and more directions afterwards, be it tech lead, architecture, dev management, project management, you can always have exposure to such areas. However, you need to work really hard, not just coding, but understand the technology, the business aspects etc. It could be a long way. As a DBA, although you have to work some odd hours, on call on weekends etc, but once you are familiar with the system, it's quite secure and requires less knowledge and skills upgrading. Income isn't bad as DBA, but growth is really limited. Now, with configuration management, you can grow into release management, which is quite in demand now. In any large financial institute, you can easily get 130 - 150k base as a release manager. But, you have to be ready for odd hours, lots of communications, blame games, and politics.

All in all, you have to be positive and working hard in anything you choose. Otherwise, it's just a job without much room upside.