By far the easiest place to network is within your current company, so your first priority should be doing a good job and building relationships there. You're network will naturally expand externally as people you currently work with leave your company.

Networking doesn't just mean meeting people for the sake of meeting people. * Volunteer for tasks that get you in front of customers or internal teams that you don't normally work with. You'll build relationships as a side effect of good work. * When you accomplish something that may be applicable outside your team, ask your boss if they could find out it if any other teams would like a demo or presentation from you. * Whenever possible prefer face-to-face conversations over email, IM or tickets. Even if an email or ticket is required, start with face-to-face. Introduce yourself if you haven't met face-to-face before, even if you have communicated electronically before. This builds relationships so much faster.

You say that you are a person that "does what it needs to do without much fanfare and goes back home". I used to approach my job like this, and I too got really frustrated where things where headed when I hit 30. At the end of the day completing your tasks is only 50% of what is necessary to have a career, the other 50% is relationships. At 31 I decided to make an effort to get out of my comfort zone, and I can draw a straight line from this to where I am now (went from mid-level dev to sr dev, and now tech lead on a big project in 3 years).

By far the best resource I have ever found on this topic is the Career Tools podcast. I would start with their "Solution to a Stalled Technical Career" cast (https://www.manager-tools.com/2005/06/solution-to-a-stalled-...) then browse the map of their old podcasts to find the ones on networking, presentations, meeting prep, how to introduce yourself, etc to find stuff you're interested in (https://www.manager-tools.com/map-universe/relationships). They give advice that is specific with steps you can follow immediately, not just general guidelines.

I also highly recommend their interview series, but it's not free ($150). IMO it is well worth it, even if you're not interviewing any time soon, if you're like me talking about yourself is incredibly difficult, and learning how to talk about your accomplishments crisply, truthfully and confidently is an extremely valuable skill for those times when you meet someone senior (or anyone really) who asks about what you're working on or if you've done anything interesting lately.

Another good resource is the book "What got you here won't get you there by Marshall Goldsmith which talks about similar things and how sometimes to take the next step you need to learn new skills, not just hone your existing skills.