You need luck to have a network now?

Kinda, yeah.

My first job in the industry was in a startup that went belly down. Most of us didn't get much opportunity to network.

Thankfully, I happened to contribute to two open-source projects. One of them was a (then) obscure language called Rust and another one was Firefox. Both contributions eventually turned into career-defining moments for which I'm still reaping benefits 15 years later.

Had I contributed to Vlang and Camino instead, my career would probably have been much less satisfying.

Agreed. It's next to impossible to actually connect with people about non-work topics. Way too many possible landmines, unless you really, REALLY click about a couple of topics.