Just because I'm chatty online or even one-on-one doesn't mean that I enjoy going out randomly and meeting people. And, alas, the last time I encountered someone from my own town on the CodeRanch, it was an old office-mate who'd retired and was trying to learn Java for the fun of it. I used to be somewhat of a presence in other forums, such as LinuxQuestions and StackExchange, but I gave them up years ago, as well as the more generally social places such as Slashdot and reddit.
In fact, it worries me that unless external demands require it, I can spend the entire day no more than 10 feet from my house. Even the back garden is more unvisited than not now.
It's not that I'm especially unpleasant like I was when I was much younger and didn't have much optimism, hadn't been introduced to appropriate medications and hadn't yet learned that my daily dosage of tea was what was making me 1 short step from diving under the furniture at the slightest noise. I'm just a very solid embodiment of the stereotypical software person, but with better spelling abilities (most of what I mis-type is sloppy fingers).
While in the past, I was always treated for depression, in actuality, what really seems to have ruled me was more a mix of obsession over minor hurts and generalized anxiety disorder (which wasn't a Thing until fairly recently). The mental health sciences have progressed considerably over the decades, and I'm glad to have missed out on the icepick-lobotomy fads and most of the drug-them-until-they're-comatose ones, but we're a long way still from precision diagnosis and treatment.
The first effective treatment I encountered was a tri-cyclic anti-depressant and it's what clued me into the obsessive component of my affliction because it messed with my short-term memory and you can't properly obsess if you keep forgetting what you're obsessing about. It was fairly brutal, and it caused major tooth decay, but I still got messed up when I had to move to get a new job and couldn't carry the prescription over.
Ironically, I get a lot of benefits these days from a blood-pressure medication that works by slowing heartbeat. Since one of the symptons of "fight-or-flight" is accelerated heart rate, applying the principle in reverse makes me feel less on the edge of panic all the time.
But in the end, I still don't like to socialize. It's like the "you can make yourself be happy!" approach to depression. You can fake it, but you cannot make it, because it's like treading water. No matter how long you tread, it's an effort that someone more buoyant wouldn't have to make and eventually the effort will exhaust you and you go under. You simply are not going to be able to build up the level of muscle tone required to go indefinitely no matter how much you exercise. Quite a few people have tried to become software developers and ended up abandoning it. Some skills can be learned, but that doesn't mean that they can be enjoyed by everyone.
OK. The Twitter reference was a dig at people who are naturally sociable, and can end up being worshipped even as they take a $75 million company and turn it into a $30 million one. Or whatever it's worth these days. Failing upwards because they were brought up to be connected and had the ability to use those connections. I have had neither. In fact, to paraphrase Terry Pratchett, when I die, the sum total of persuadeability of the population of Earth will fractionally increase.
But, as to seniority, I basically started my career in senior positions. I was the system administrator for the minicomputer in college, did yeoman-level assignments on my first actual job, and shortly moved up into OS support. It's one reason why generic recruiting doesn't work for me. When you need me, a grunt-level person won't do, and grunt-level screening will cut me out of the process.
Not to worry. As I said, I'm essentially retired now. After all, I'm "too old to learn new technologies". And I'm tired of meeting my boss in the hall and learning that he was just laid off and my exit interview comes next. No more. I quit.