Aye. Of my 5 jobs, 4 were via personal connections; 2 were basically bumping into strangers and chatting them up, one at a wedding, the other at a Linux User Group.

My current job is the only one I applied for. Even then, dudes from previous jobs have hit me up in the past for gigs in the last 6 months.

Who you know matters, even w/r/t code, so know people.