This is all highly field dependent but I doubt a thesis-like investment is required. Maybe being involved in a publication or two somehow without pay but not a

This is all highly field dependent but I doubt a thesis-like investment is required. Maybe being involved in a publication or two somehow without pay but not a thesis. Having been a tenured professor who left (sort of, not completely), these issues are really salient to me. I was surprised when I left how many stories I heard of others doing the same. They just aren't mentioned for many reasons, including institutional ego. Academics in many fields is in a crisis from my perspective. It's not obvious because there's always amazing advancements like the new mRNA vaccine, but it comes at a huge human cost that is rarely covered (pieces like the recent Atlantic article notwithstanding, and some stuff in places like STAT). Also, those advancements are often misleading, because the volumes of stuff that are more typical (like the hydroxychloroquine story) you don't hear about, without the skeptical eye of the world waiting for a much-needed and very-real product. At least in my field, I suspect the author would have problems returning only because they don't fit the narrative that's required for positions. Again, this depends on field, but a lot of academic hiring, at least at the level of faculty, is about branding of sorts, of building up a story of them being on a meteoric trajectory of genius so brilliant it can't be contained by fate or circumstances of any sort. I've read it referred to as the madonna-whore complex, which is quite accurate. It's hard to explain unless you've been on the side of faculty hiring, but it's very much about looking like the next super-Einstein-Nobel Winner in a room full of people who will never attain anywhere near that much fame (but who think they have), in a scientific process that is really about incremental contributions anyway. It's all heavily location-dependent too. The author talks about nomadic lifestyles which is accurate, but there's also an element of that which is important to keep in mind: if your nomadic wanderings leads you to a great place, it's great, but if that place is dysfunctional, it's horrible. It's hard for me to say it's a case of grass-is-greener only because it really depends on all sorts of things, including that individual, their connections, and a lot of luck. I think the pathology of modern academics only increases as you go up the ladder, to be honest, unless you're in a good place. I can't stress enough how much of an oversupply there is at the moment of extremely talented labor, and dysfunctional, corrupt systems that are broken and outdated. There's plenty of academics that is cutting edge and open-minded, but there's also a lot of it that is supremely dated and behind the times, years behind industry due to narrow-mindedness, reinforced by distorted incentive systems. I keep thinking something has to give but so far there's no end in sight, at least in the US.