Yep, I have a Masters degree in interaction design with a healthy curriculum in true UX, and I'm a far better interaction designer than programmer. Part of why I got into it was because you have the capacity to have a major impact on how applications work, and I was relieved that I didn't need to worry about fidelity down to the graphic design layer. Come to find out that almost all UX designers I've ever met - outside of my alma mater - are graphic designers, and I've just never been able to convince anyone to hire me for design.

Despite that, I've lucked into temporary design roles on some major projects end to end, have all the wireframes, the design thinking, the compromises and so on, and that helped not one bit.

edit: grammar