[tibbon]

On the topic of paying for networking (I'm not disagreeing with you), I was thinking that you shouldn't be paying to get into networking events generally. I know I don't. When I was in Boston, there were 10+ good networking events every week, which were almost always free. If they weren't, a few well placed emails got me in the door free. Now I'm in Ohio, and even here I can find free networking events with good people at them.

Even events like SXSWi, which are definitely not free, can be made free. Its simple, just get on a panel or speak there. Before someone says that a 29 year old wouldn't be able to do that, I say look at who is really giving the panels there. About 50% of them are under 30. Every year I have a dozen ~25 year old friends speak there. There's expenses involved in getting there of course, but if you attend SXSWi as a speaker and don't get at least one job offer you've probably done it wrong.