In my whole career it was very rare that someone from my network helped. All calls for help would be met with a polite "sure" and then went missing. Some give me a lecture on how to lower my expectations or something else.

My “network” includes external recruiters. I’ve met them for lunch, in their office etc.

Mostly boutique shops. I only dealt with local recruiters in my former city (Atlanta) before remote work got to be big. I haven’t looked for a job post Covid.

Hopefully, I will never have to look for a job again. When I leave my current job - hopefully by choice - I will be semi-retired and doing consulting gigs (not staff augmentation).

Ironically, I work for the very company that this article is about. But, I work in the consulting department at AWS. There is a direct easy to measure metric of how much my work contributes to the bottom line compared to my compensation - I’m a billable consultant.

I think people have differing opinions on what a "network" means.

Some people define their network as professionals they know, even casually. That type of network isn't particularly useful. Other networks are people that you've provided some value to in some way so they know you're a valuable resource. Often, this means going out of your way to show value when there's little in it for you. That type of network is much more valuable because you've formed a relationship that goes beyond just "knowing a guy."