Perhaps so - and "publish or perish" is the academic equivalent of appearing at the Pyramid club night after night. Einstein did publish but only once he was, indeed, so good they couldn't ignore him.
So, the first part "be so good they can't ignore you" certainly works - if you are really, really good. Of course, by the nature of a large scale society, most people, even most really good people, aren't so good they can't be ignored. Someone who is a bit smarter than an average full professor but who has no official credentials would probably not be hired if they wrote a few above average research papers and got them published in a modest journal. Someone who writes an earth-shattering research paper would get hired but, well, that's by its nature unusual.
Of course, every field has a somewhat different path to success, which is one of my points...
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Wouldn't the academic equivalent of a Pyramid Club be academic journals?
Perhaps so - and "publish or perish" is the academic equivalent of appearing at the Pyramid club night after night. Einstein did publish but only once he was, indeed, so good they couldn't ignore him.
So, the first part "be so good they can't ignore you" certainly works - if you are really, really good. Of course, by the nature of a large scale society, most people, even most really good people, aren't so good they can't be ignored. Someone who is a bit smarter than an average full professor but who has no official credentials would probably not be hired if they wrote a few above average research papers and got them published in a modest journal. Someone who writes an earth-shattering research paper would get hired but, well, that's by its nature unusual.
Of course, every field has a somewhat different path to success, which is one of my points...