Back when I worked as a software engineer, I read the EE Times every week and I joined the ACM and IEEE as professional societies.
Now that I live in Seattle and have changed my career focus, I went looking for new professional groups to work with. I wanted to pass along the programs that I have liked the most. All of these groups offer workshops or speakers and the chance to network. In the professional sense, Seattle is a small town so networking is key.
The PMC and sDMA focus on marketing.
Product Marketing Consortium
http://www.pmcnw.org/
The PMC offers regular workshops for those interested in product marketing. The speakers are great and each program begins with an opportunity to network and meet other professionals with the same interests.Seattle Direct Marketing Association
http://www.sdma.org/
If you are interested in direct marketing, you need to join the local chapter of the DMA. The sDMA has monthly workshops, which I have heard are terrific.
NWEN and MIT Forum focus on venture creation, ie startups.
Northwest Entrepreneur Network
http://nwen.org/
NWEN offers speakers and networking opportunities for Seattleites who are interested in venture creation. Personally, IU have really enjoyed the monthly breakfast speakers and the Entrepreneur University, which is offered once a year on the University of Washington campus.MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest
http://www.mitwa.org/
Similar to NWEN, the MIT forum offers regular speakers and networking opportunities for those interested in venture creation.
LinkedIn is a general tool for all professional.
http://www.linkedin.com/
Not related to Seattle in any way, but the LinkedIn webservice is a great professional networking system. They have recently added job listings which is even more cool since it shows you jobs related to your network of contacts.
