An exceptional scholar, and a genuinely nice man, he had once again failed to secure a permanent academic position, despite a stellar publication record and a strong résumé. Now, having spent years in the halfway house of the postdoctoral world—neither fish nor fowl—he is ready to throw in the towel. He plans to spend one last year on the academic job market and, if nothing concrete materializes, he will leave academia forever. Jason Arday is a professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge and, as Cambridge’s press office keeps reminding the world, the youngest black person ever to hold a full professorship at the university. During his PhD studies, he pinned a piece of paper on a bedroom wall, on which was written: “One day I will work at Oxford or Cambridge.”