Midlife Career Crisis

Hello All,
I need some professional guidance from seniors... I have 11 years of IT experience and I played the role of business analyst for the past 6 years. I have now taken a break for an year to look after my kid. I plan to resume looking for a job in 4 months. Before I start looking for a job I want to do some certifications to refresh my knowledge..
I feel that I am experiencing a mid life crisis in my career. I am not sure which path I should pursue - Should I take up certification with respect to business analyst or take a totally new path. My strengths are my analytical ability. Are there anything new in market which I start afresh?
If at all I pursue in Business analyst role are there any certification I can take up - I have worked in the HR field for major retail clients.
Please advice.

Dear NShankar1,

Overall my market information says that job "Business Analyst" is very much in demand. Out of 11 years, if you have worked for six years in this role then naturally you have sufficient experience. What you need to do is to complement your work experience with the certification course.

In today's TOI (Bangalore edition), there is advertisement of Gems B School. They run certification course on business analyst. You may visit their website <www.gemsbscool.com> to know more about this course.

Secondly, treading uncharted waters would be little riskier. While working in somewhere, if your company transfers to you handle new job, that is different thing. However, abandoning previous experience, if you take up something new, that you could create a crisis which is non-existent as of now. Career break because of family reasons is fait accompli. Million women could tide over this crisis and so you should be!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar