If my recent experiences are any indication, the secret is to go to hackathons and developer meetups. In the past I've gone through that whole painful and imper

If my recent experiences are any indication, the secret is to go to hackathons and developer meetups. In the past I've gone through that whole painful and impersonal process you've described. It has actually shocked me how effective this approach has been, and I wasn't even trying (I was just there to hack and learn). You get to have real conversations with people who understand you, and you can easily walk away a couple of those inside connections. Also, the companies that send people to those events (more accurately, those that hire people who will attend of their own volition), seem to be more likely to have sane hiring processes. The two that I have been in talks with have actually made me feel "recruited," and follow most of the points in the article, which is a nice change (and I certainly don't have rockstar status or really any public image).