Beginning Hobbyist Programmer Question

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Ok, I'm beginning to teach myself the art of computer programming. I'm
starting with Python and I've built a few scripts that have increased
my productivity tremendously at work, doing a lot of data crunching,
etc.

As I get more and more into programming, I get the sense that "real"
programmers use emacs or vi, or some other editor that from my
perspective, seems arcane and impenetrable compared to something
simple like IDLE that comes with Python, or Scite, for example.

Can anyone provide a cogent explanation for why I should take the time
to climb that learning curve? What are the benefits, as you see them?

Also, assuming I'm convinced, can you point me in the direction of a
good tutorial?

Thanks in advance.