Gtk+ Questions And Becoming An It Pro

My OS of choice is SUSE 10.3 GNOME, for better or worse I will stick to this. There are pros and cons in any environment you will decide, but I like the pros more than a QT+ environment, for example.

Part time, I work as an HTML editor, and my expertise in IT doesn't really go beyond this. I read an article here (link) recently about the responsibilities of an 'Information Architect,' and am intrigued by the vocation. Though I do have a few questions:

1)I want to concentrate on backend development, and Python seems to be a smart choice to start with; I'm reading a book on Python, and I understand well enough how to implement it, but not its purpose or functionality with web or software based applications. I know the people at Google swear by Python, could someone please explain to me why?
2)I know that Ximian is doing something new with GNOME using .NET and Mono, but does other distros, like Ubuntu have .NET bindings, and what makes Mono stand out from the pack? If GTK+ is free and Qt+ has some proprietary elements, than which one has the upper hand in the IT industry? And if Google Earth (I think it's this one) was built by Qt+, could it have been designed with GTK+ as well?
3)And what is the main significance of an IDE to either a developer or designer?

I have far more questions, but I'll answer them for myself. I'm not looking for someone to provide me an answer to every question, but just to give a response to the purpose of my studies in computer programming language.