Micah (@WebBreacher) gave a talk at BSides DC last year on joining the infosec community. For Micah it took him a while to get involved. He jumped right into the deep end by going to DEFCON. Several years later he decided to get more involved in the community and quickly discovered several of the benefits from doing that. I had a similar experience, attending DEFCON in the early 2000s. I wouldn't attend another security conference until 10 years later.

There are a lot of benefits to getting involved in the infosec community. You get to contribute and make the community a little better. You get to meet some awesome people. You will have more job opportunities open up. Community engagement shows initiative and allows you to meet people looking to fill roles.