Well, you should work on your technical skills because that is the right thing to do and because it helps you in the long run, but the parent poster is obviously right - if you're looking at the effect on actual hiring decision the networking skills will have a larger effect anyways.
Spent 3 years becoming an expert in technology X? Even if the whole job offer is about X, you'll have only slightly better chances than the guy who had a glimpse at X 3 years ago - the interview process simply has no way to find out how much better you are at X.
But if you were at a final round with a few other qualified candidates (maybe better qualified than you, maybe worse qualified - noone can tell, they can only tell that they're qualified) - and you're 'the grumpy one' or someone else has a good emotional contact - then that will be a decisive factor. Even if the decisionmakers deny this; and even if the decisionmakers are informed about such biases and actively try to counter them - research shows that they still do decide that way, it's simply human to do so.
Completely stupid irrelevant factors (such as being taller) do have a relationship to the offers you get and how much people are willing to pay you. That's how life works; ignoring it won't change it; denying it won't change it; saying that it's not fair (it isn't) won't change it - you may just learn about it and try to exploit it. And 'work on your "being a guy that a CTO would want to have a beer with" skill' is solid advice on how to try to exploit how reality really works.
Spent 3 years becoming an expert in technology X? Even if the whole job offer is about X, you'll have only slightly better chances than the guy who had a glimpse at X 3 years ago - the interview process simply has no way to find out how much better you are at X.
But if you were at a final round with a few other qualified candidates (maybe better qualified than you, maybe worse qualified - noone can tell, they can only tell that they're qualified) - and you're 'the grumpy one' or someone else has a good emotional contact - then that will be a decisive factor. Even if the decisionmakers deny this; and even if the decisionmakers are informed about such biases and actively try to counter them - research shows that they still do decide that way, it's simply human to do so.
Completely stupid irrelevant factors (such as being taller) do have a relationship to the offers you get and how much people are willing to pay you. That's how life works; ignoring it won't change it; denying it won't change it; saying that it's not fair (it isn't) won't change it - you may just learn about it and try to exploit it. And 'work on your "being a guy that a CTO would want to have a beer with" skill' is solid advice on how to try to exploit how reality really works.