GDC and Breaking into the Industry

Hey guys, long time no post. Been busy on my portfolio for level design and quest design.

Anyway as many of you probably know, the hiring of designers in the game industry if you dont have senior level experience is very slow at the moment. What few jobs pop up are highly sought after so it can be hard to stand out in the crowd even with a good portfolio.

With the GDC at San Francisco right around the corner, I've been wondering if perhaps this may be a good thing for someone like me to attend? I'm wondering because they say that recruiters do attend the various GDCs and it may help me meet these recruiters in person and show them I know my stuff. Do they actually attend and do they actually hire people this way? I mean, at worst it'd let me network with more game developers and get my name out there, but attending a GDC is a huge investment so I wonder if it's worth attending on a limited budget.

Any other suggestions would be great as well!