Re: where to find experienced developers with no tech connections, that's not really a problem. Here's why: It's similar to a man asking, "Hey, know any models I can date?"
Actually, beautiful women are hardly rare. But it's the qualifier that's important: "models I can date??"
Good developers might be rare, but they're not hard to find. They are, however, hard to woo. You know the drill on how to woo them, it's just inconvenient/hard/expensive. But at least it's pretty well laid out.