This may not help immediately, and I know the landscape has changed in many areas, but years ago, I went to multiple different tech groups and conferences - jav

This may not help immediately, and I know the landscape has changed in many areas, but years ago, I went to multiple different tech groups and conferences - java, ruby, perl, ms/.net. I introduced myself as a PHP person. Beyond the standard lame jokes people tried to lay on me, I made connections. I was often the only PHP person some of these folks had ever met face to face. Months went by, and I would get calls from those same people "hey, someone is asking me for a PHP dev - are you available?" or "my friend's company has some PHP questions - can you help?" This is not an immediate silver bullet, and I know COVID changed a lot of how we meet and interact. But... it may be something that helps someone out there.