[kypro]

Maybe I'm old but I feel like actual tech meetups died well over a decade ago...

They used to be full of geeks building cool stuff and people would genuinely be interested in what you were doing. I made a lot of friends back in the day from those tech meetups.

What you're describing here is exactly why I dislike and avoid meetups today.

There was a shift somewhere in the 2010s where it started to become harder and harder to find good tech meetups and instead they all seemed to morph in some combination of a networking event, people trying to pitch the startup they were working on, or people just trying to practice public speaking.

The tech scene today isn't really a place for people interested in tech. It's a scene for people who want to be the next tech billionaire or want to build a following as a public speaker for their career.

And that's fine. I just personally have no interest in networking with these types of people.

I'd also note that the utility of the networking benefits of meetups today is close to non-existent due to the types of people who attend them. You're better off building professional working relationships with people imo.

[marssaxman]

I am definitely old, because I never noticed that "tech meetups" had become a thing in the first place!