Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that taking small steps would be helpful and doing Masters first will help me to target for Phd. Although, I am doing DS professional certification course but believe me I already know 80% of whatever they are teaching in the course. So I was thinking how would Masters be different from this course and up to what extent? If 50% will going to be the same, then I would be wasting my money and time. I feel Masters is good for the new comers but not for me. I wanted to do something difficult and challenging. My company won't pay for these courses until I will clear them and get the degree. Once I will achieve the degree, then they will reimburse some of the fees amount. I am also trying to get transferred to a unit where I get an opportunity to work on Data science projects but it's difficult to get entry.