The hardest part to that for me is the "get to know people" part. He already had a mentor before he started learning. How would one get a mentor in the first place? How do you get to know other people?
Go to meetups and lurk IRL IMO. Just start small conversations. Say hi, ask what someone's working on, what the program is they have open, if they read HN or Reddit or whatever. Let them know you admire their work and ask for help.