Publications are but ONE avenue. I went into a lot of details explaining that self-publishing is both great and often preferable. If you're interested in my take on this as a Medium veteran (nearly 9 years on the platform), feel free to have a read: https://medium.com/@attilavago/youre-overestimating-the-value-of-publications-and-it-s-hurting-you-c53b77ba8130