If your focus is programming, work with someone who is good at design. Don't expect to just be able to read some books and independently pull off interesting and innovative game design that will be commerically successful, unless you are very serious about diving deep and learning, to the same extent you would study art hard enough to call yourself a professional artist. Game design isn't some optional nice skill to have when making an independent game, it is literally all that matters. Coding is an important and useful skill, so find someone who feels confident about their design and implement their ideas together.