I think you've fairly accurate described the majority of irc channels related to programming.
I've been running #winapi on freenode for over 6 years (writing windows programs used to be the way to impress your friends before making websites or apps became all the rage).
The only generalization I would make is that people on IRC are just the same programmers you see at work. There are experts (but they don't consider themselves experts), there are beginners, but it's mostly just people working and listening in on anything interesting or to ask a question here and there.
I've been running #winapi on freenode for over 6 years (writing windows programs used to be the way to impress your friends before making websites or apps became all the rage).
The only generalization I would make is that people on IRC are just the same programmers you see at work. There are experts (but they don't consider themselves experts), there are beginners, but it's mostly just people working and listening in on anything interesting or to ask a question here and there.