# The Gatekeeping of Academia Is Complete

Let me tell you something harsh. A friend of mine is a fellow in the UK who's already published in Nature, but can't return home yet because that's how his domestic boss arranged it.

His domestic boss is an academician ranked among the top in this field who's given him many collaborative projects. But he simply can't come back yet—even though he wants to. He has no choice.

Because under this big boss, there's a mid-level boss who's been pushing for academician status these past few years. The team has built up a large group of "publish or perish" sacrificial lambs. The big boss's plan is to use these sacrificial lambs to help the mid-level boss get promoted to academician, then cash out in a six-year cycle.

If he came back now and competed with these sacrificial lambs, his life would be miserable. If any of them outperform him, keeping him around would create team discord. So he has to stay abroad for a few more years until the mid-level boss successfully gets promoted to academician and several mid-career researchers retire from the institute. Then he can come back.

But those "publish or perish" sacrificial lambs don't know that they're destined to sacrifice their health, their families, and their time—all to become stepping stones for others. So if you're doing research, get into the market if you can. Once you enter this circle of sitting down and dividing the spoils, you won't even know how you died.