Dear Friend,
Thank you for your insightful reply. You are absolutely right. Unfortunately, here in India we the Indians are sort of programmed to be happy to be a part of the social, political, religious ..... and even corporate bandwagon!! Thanks to our inherently subservient nature...perhaps a legacy of our history. Whatever!! No wonder, research and innovation has plunged to the bottom in this country of eminent scholars.
I understand, what's left for me now is to count on grace of god as you mentioned. Not sure whether I will get it though, since I don't follow any religious bandwagon in this country!!
Here's how I got stuck, in brief:
I have, in all, over 11 years of hands-on experience in IT both as a professional in India (independent consultant for clients....not in IT corporations!!) and as an academic outside of India (in western programs, abroad). I have Masters in IT and I am also a trained and certified Project Manager and Agile professional. I am also a western-trained educator/trainer. My most recent (5+ yrs) of experience, unfortunately, was as a successful academic, outside of India.
To further my career as an academic I need a PhD (3 yrs part time, at least!)....and to further my career as an IT professional/PM, I need Industry-level experience in corporate environment....and a recent academic is NOT welcome as a professional in IT industry. I am STUCK!!
I stay update through professional development activities, as much as I can afford....and look forward to MBA as well, only once I know the industry/function I am serving. I am not averse to PhD either, only if I can get back into academia with just an MS and without publications etc.!!! However, the risk is, if I gamble on PhD now (without knowing for sure which way I am going....academia or professional), I will be further away from the industry....and might end up being a depressed, frustrated and messed up scholar after 3 years!!! They dn't need a PhD in industry for sure!!
What to do??? Last 11 years of commitment to IT apparently has no value now, 'cause I failed to join the bandwagon in India early in life??? Any other relevant industry/function where I might try my luck....except Sales & ITES/BPO etc.??
Any lead from any experienced HR professional!!
That's why I needed an experienced and sincere career counselor with whom I could have an open discussion to find new opportunities/possibilities to come out of this bottleneck ASAP.
Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
Regards