If you have the money to work full time on a personal project you have the time to sign up for a conference or three on the kind of scientific topic you like. I

If you have the money to work full time on a personal project you have the time to sign up for a conference or three on the kind of scientific topic you like. Ideally, pick one near your home/in the closest metropolis. Once there you can apply the following no-social-skills-needed guide to making contacts at a conference. 1. Watch the keynote. 2. After the keynote, walk up to pretty much anybody. Ask the following questions: "Do you think (keynote title) is a major area for (conference subject matter)?" and almost regardless of what they answer, you can follow up with "oh, really? Is what you're studying related to (keynote subject)?". Those two questions are enough to make virtually any academic launch in a paragraph-long exposé. Usually by the 6th conversation you have along those lines, you'll have a good summary of which subjects are considered important right now. If the person looks like they like you or are invested in talking about their topic, you can follow up by giving your contact info and saying you're interested in them sending you a paper on the subject they talked about (one of theirs if applicable). 3. There will be designated poster sessions. The posters are giant sheets of papers with young people in front of them. Walk up to a young person standing in front of a poster that doesn't look that slick but where the subject matter interests you (slick posters are from bigger labs where you are less likely to have an impact). Ask the person what they do, how long they've been doing it for, how big is their lab, and what's the most time-consuming step in their research right now. 4. If anyone asks you what you do, say you're an expert in (your computing area, web apps, cloud, data analysis, whatever) and interested in the intersection of (your area) and (conference name). Some of the people will say they think (your area) would be great for (their subfield) because of (super niche stuff you wouldn't have thought of). Grab their contact info so you can have a 1:1 meeting with them later where they find you a research subject. Follow up by having email conversations with a few of the people. If a grad student looks like they can use your help, ask for an intro to the PI. Eventually you'll walk your way into a (possibly paid) research project. It's that simple. Thank you for caring about your world and its future.