I emphasized this in other writing, and wanted to bring it up again: if you're in a profession you love, OR want that perfect geeky job, you're going to need to read professional publications. If you're not a pro, you still need to read them – perhaps even moreso.
Capability
Mentor Chains
A great thing about being a fan, a gaming geek, a pro-geek, etc. is that we can find all sorts of role models – from famous programmers to great artists and the like, there are people whom we can model ourselves after and learn from.
Let me make another suggestion for using your friends and fandom to improve: what I call Mentor chains.
Self-reference for success
You love your Pomeranain, which is why your gamerhandle lets people know they've been P0wned by CerebusPom23. Your sig file on your favorite message board references your Twitter account. Your color scheme for your fansite is a subtle variant on your favorite sports teams, each page lovingly coordinated.
If you're a fan/geek, especially if you're heavily online, you've probably got a lot of self-references. Handles reflect interests, websites reference other sites, your cosplay costume is based off of your love of Japanese history, etc.
Congrats. You're practicing one of the skills necessary for career success- self-reference.