Yes, a great network is essential. But there is plenty of room for independent developers; just target some of the less prevalent tech like Ruby, Erlang, node.j

Yes, a great network is essential. But there is plenty of room for independent developers; just target some of the less prevalent tech like Ruby, Erlang, node.js, etc. Most of the big shops go after Java, Oracle, SAP, etc. and don't bother with some of the smaller technologies because there's not consistent enough demand to support their scale.