Wow, look at all the criticism! I think the OP is making a valid point, and I'd like to throw my $0.02 in support.
Look, there are two crowds in Silicon Valley. First are the people who seem to collect connections almost as if it was some sort of competetive sport. They know everyone, they join every social network and have thousands of friends, they go through a full box of business cards in three days, attend every networking event imaginable, entrepreneurship seminars, startup parties, meetups, hackathons, you name it... I admire their social skills, but I'm barely aware of what they actually do outside of growing their networks - all they talk about are the events they've been to and people they've met.
The second crowd actually builds things. They are of course doing some networking, but they seem to stick to the essential minimum and don't play the "who's got the fattest rolodex" game. They also seem to somehow know each other, but not the people from the first group :)
Of course connections are valuable. But not so much if the only thing you build is your network!
Look, there are two crowds in Silicon Valley. First are the people who seem to collect connections almost as if it was some sort of competetive sport. They know everyone, they join every social network and have thousands of friends, they go through a full box of business cards in three days, attend every networking event imaginable, entrepreneurship seminars, startup parties, meetups, hackathons, you name it... I admire their social skills, but I'm barely aware of what they actually do outside of growing their networks - all they talk about are the events they've been to and people they've met.
The second crowd actually builds things. They are of course doing some networking, but they seem to stick to the essential minimum and don't play the "who's got the fattest rolodex" game. They also seem to somehow know each other, but not the people from the first group :)
Of course connections are valuable. But not so much if the only thing you build is your network!