I network all the damn time. I talk to people. I get lunch with new people who I don't know (there's a standing invite in my HN profile for a reason). I don't have some Specific Goal of Moving My Career Forward. I like people, I like meeting people, I like learning about them, and in the future maybe I'll do them a solid or they'll do me one.

It pays off, though. And it's fun.

But I have never started a conversation (at least, not with somebody I didn't already know well, like my boss) with the Specific Goal of Moving My Career Forward.

If that's what you think networking is, you're missing out.