I've never actually worked in tech, but I was a super early adopter spending a lot of times on BBSs and then usenet, IRC, telnet chats, designing web pages and doing graphics, flyers, icons, emojis and stuff for people I met online, and I've met a lot of super cool people for sure but it's all been virtual for the most part. It was so much fun in those earlier days when everyone was doing their own thing.