> social circles are very clique-y and exclusive

This rings true to my experience as well. I only managed to make friends with some fellow engineers after living there for a few years.

And it's not for lack of trying, I joined sports teams, wide variety of meetups, social clubs and tried to chat to strangers I encounter.

It seems people are generally not interested in adding another engineer to their friend circle, except fellow engineers. It's quite ironic because my interests are actually more athletic and artistic than geeky.