[erikpukinskis]

One place to look is "users groups" for whatever tools you use. So if you were in Amsterdam and you work primarily in C++ you could look up "dutch c++ users group" and come up with this: http://www.meetup.com/The-Dutch-Cpp-Group/

Another good bet is to spend a month in a coworking space. There will be events sometimes. At the friendlier ones people go to lunch together. Different spaces are different though. Some everyone kind of sticks to themselves.

You can volunteer at RailsBridge or other nonprofits. There are also "hacker spaces" that you can just hang out in and work on a project.

You can also look up conferences that are coming through your city and go to them. Many people will be from out of town, but you'll meet a few local people there too.