[foolishdream]

What has come out of contacts you initially met at meetups and hackathons? How long have you been going to them? How long have you been a developer? How many jobs have you had?

How does that compare to your network from coworkers, old bosses, friends, acquaintances that were not initially from tech focused meet ups?

[dllthomas]

I've made two friends at meet ups good enough that I've kept in touch outside of them - one of whom I've been doing some coding with. I've also run into people in person who I'd previously known from IRC or reddit (and one former classmate I had lost touch with) .

The quality of the experience certainly varies substantially, meet-up group to meet-up group. Fortunately, there's no commitment - if you go to one and it sucks, don't go to that one again.