Yes, I deliberately, though not disingenuously, failed to mention that part, for rhetorical effect. One should also note that UCSB has a much better math department than people might think.
In a detailed profile published in The New Yorker magazine in February 2015, Alec Wilkinson wrote Zhang "parted unhappily" with Moh, and that Zhang "left Purdue without Moh’s support, and, having published no papers, was unable to find an academic job".
I don't think it was being "born in the wrong pool" that caused him not to get a academic job immediately... hmm
Meanwhile, the guy who contributed the key insight that's lead to drastic reductions in the size of the prime gap problem, is working at a Subway. [0]
Hmm.
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[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitang_Zhang