[cableshaft]

The only programmer meetups I usually go to now are 'hack nights', i.e. get together and work on your own projects together or just in the presence of others. It helps me stay on track and I get to see and hear what others are working on (or debating about, some people are mostly there to socialize).

I find these worth it, and most other programming meetups not really worth it. I will still attend a lecture-style meetup if it's about a topic I'm pretty interested in though.

Also, non-programmer meetups I find very valuable and try to go to as many as I can afford to. I've met several of my close friends through those. There's less pretense of networking at them and you can form real connections with people.