active networking is the 10th circle of hell,never in my life have I felt so actively disgusted with myself in a social context. how do you do this without the urge to 
or how do you tamp down that urge because oh my god I cannot stomach it, it feels so fucking slimy to do. i can't even do it at events where the sole purpose is networking, my dad pressed me into one and I bailed 15 minutes in after hovering around, it feels so utterly degrading and gross
Note: I hate intentionally trying to network, but it also happens naturally if you are social with other people in your field.
Networking is simply making connections with other professionals who you can reach out to for things you are working on or for references/recommendations/job opportunities. If you worked with someone and they let you know about an open position, that means you networked with them at some point. If you know Sarah from a conference and you can reach out to her for advice when you hit some barrier, that means you networked with her at some point. It is making professional contacts who know who you are and who might spend a few minutes or more to do a favor at some point. They might be close or just acquaintances, but they are contacts in the context of working.
All of my networking happens by doing things with others because I am terrible at forcing the smalltalk and trivial interaction with people that is actively networking. Once a few connections happened organically, other people networked for me by saying good things about me and my work, which took a while to happen but once it started it snowballed from there.
I honestly can't imagine starting over in a new industry and trying to make it happen on purpose.
OH fair.
Saving this comment (putting a star on it).
This is leagues better than networking. Much more organic and akin to how things are usually done.
I just wish there was a word for “networking, but the working class does it so it’s cool.”