Ideas DO matter if you define "idea" as knowledge about what a particular group of people needs. It's not just about one isolated idea of course. That kind of idea is indeed worthless. It's about your ability to make good judgements within a particular application context.

If you have that kind of knowledge and you are able to communicate with users then please please don't waste your time learning to program. If you have no special knowledge about a particular user community or industry then you should learn to program.