Thinking about developers' efficiency, there are a lot of factors that we can fine-tune to get better results. Besides team communication and clear work description, the most simple one is the time the developer needs to transfer ideas into code.
VIM is a code editor
Like Visual Studio Code VIM itself is a standalone text editor. Originally it was terminal-based and over the years there has been published desktop software for macOS and Windows.
VIM accelerates programming
Vim uses so-called modes to split editing, selecting and commanding. Therefore you don't need to use your mouse when selecting certain lines or blocks, or navigating through the current file.
Furthermore, there is a concept called macros that will turn boring tasks into the design and execution of a procedure.
Steep learning curve
It takes some time to learn the basics and much longer to get used to the more advanced stuff.
Adapting to VIM took me almost one year to become much more efficient, than without. But the invested time was worth it.
My go-to setup
NeoVim introduced the support for several language servers, that will enable intelligent auto-completion. To be honest, I used it two years ago and it was still in beta/development. Long story short... I turned away from using plain (Neo)Vim.
Instead, I installed Vim key mapping extensions, wherever I could. It has drawbacks as well:
a lot of vim commands are not supported by some IDEs / Code editors
duplicate key mapping, especially in Jetbrains IDEs.
How I would approach learning Vim today
Learn the navigation procedures by heart. Line up, down, char right and left. Learn to navigate words and to skip through your file. Experiment with copying and pasting texts.
And most important: Don't give up!
Conclusion
Vim is an ancient tool that has been maintained and extended, forked and enhanced over the time. There are reasons why a lot of developers use it and it might be the best option to invest your time for a more efficient developer experience.
If this post motivated you to learn Vim, like it! ❤️