author here - totally get where you're coming from, but there's huge value in the social part as well. It's not to say I didn't do any coding at the hackathons I went to. But if I was going to immerse myself with other, smarter human beings I might as well talk to them!

Finding the balance is tough, but that's why going to these sorts of things was so important to me. Helps you learn how to filter out noise, talk to the right people, etc. If you know what you're looking you can be quite efficient when talking to people.