Hi all,

I am seeking some advice, so I'd highly appreciate the input of this online community. I work full-time as an engineer and over the past year I have been doing a part-time PhD on a topic which would bring financial benefit to a big client of ours and to the firm I am working for as well, except recently the client pulled the plug and didn't want the topic to be anymore a research project. So one year of work is gone wasted.

At the same time, I wasn't happy with the PhD work approach in itself, I felt it was too tailored to get the researcher into academics, an area which I have absolute no interest in.

Anyhow, once the client pulled the plug on the PhD topic, I informed my university I have no longer any interest in pursuing a PhD...However, at the same time during that year I have been doing some work and have been promoting an energy conversion technology which I believe it can be commercialised & my work has lead me to be shortlisted for the Energy Awards and since then I have been approached by individual/governmental organisations/companies to see if we can do projects using the concept I am proposing. (Note: this is a new technology addressing an issue with no solution)

Now, going back to the PhD my university is advising me to switch topics and use their facilities to build and design my technology and to sell it to the market upon completion of the PhD. Whereas I was thinking of doing an MBA with emphasis on energy to help me do a start-up and take the concept to the next level.

Which route you think is better, design the system myself through a PhD program or going through a different route, I am worried the PhD is a waste of my time, I really didn't enjoy the academic entourage.

is a PhD good approach to prove the system & reach my start-up goal ?

*Bump* Does anyone hve any insights for akh83?

Do you believe you will be happier in five years with a PhD or not? I know it seems hard/not worth while at the moment but you could be a lot worse off. Decide that then you will know.

@Reenie: Thank you for giving my post a boost
@ThePug: Thank you for the response

I am still unsure on what to decide, I am currently in a specific sustainability energy sector and I know the PhD topic for my Energy Conversion Technology won't contribute to any career progression in my current field as it is a totally unrelated topic..

So this is one of my concerns, that 5 years down the line I will end up with a PhD that doesn't contribute much to my field and won't be appreciated and at the same time I fail to kick start my start-up concept.

As for the MBA, I recently visited a top-ranked MBA University in the UK and I wasn't so sure anymore that it is also a good path for my goals but I felt it gives me more chance to jump back in the private sector in case of Start-up failure but obviously I lose the ownership on the technology and needs to partner up with other companies which I am finding difficult to do as an individual with a full-time job, especially that my employer sees the opportunity but is indecisive regarding jumping in with me.

I would appreciate if we can keep the conversation going, as I need to make a decision on my PhD by the end of next week.

Do you have to choose between them? How about doing an MBA part-time, say, after you've finished your PhD?

pf329 - thanks for the comment, I actually ended up signing an abeyance at my PhD program, I decided that I need more time to think things through and find my own way...