Confused about next career move

Hi.

So I'm a little confused as to what my next job move should be. I think eventually I'd like to work for a small boutique investment firm (mostly likely private side) but the strategy could range from growth equity for 'new economy' business models or distressed assets i.e. higher risk higher reward strategies. Or own my business.

I did a bachelors in economics and a masters in finance both from top 10 institutions in the UK and worked on the buy side for 3.5 years. Started out recommending equity funds and then moved into the direct equity team covering European Metals and Mining as well as other European/UK names across different sectors. After a while I knew I wasn't learning as much as my sell side counterparts who'd been in their role for a similar amount of time and quit my job to work in a BRIC country for a PM I'd got to know that focused on local mid cap equities. I learned a tonne in those 3 months compared to my previous firm in the UK. Then I got an internship with a start-up IB boutique before I got a job on the sell side in equity research for a top 3 BB in the BRIC country.

I'm learning the technical skills that I feel I wasn't getting on the buy side in the UK, which is the main reason I decided to leave in the first place. But I'm covering European Metals and Mining again which I really didn't want to do given that your call on stocks is derived from your views on China which nobody can predict. I only accepted it to get the BB experience. Also the main team is based in London so I feel quite out of touch with the teams views, what clients are thinking etc.

I want to return back to the UK after spending 6-12m in this new role (not too sure if this is too short a time period to give to this role?).

So after this job I'm not sure what to do. I've always thought of doing an IBD stint given the doors it opens and the amount you learn on the job. I'm particularly interested in joining a restructuring team because I think this is an area that I've had zero exposure to before so I'd learn a lot and the opportunity to move into PE/HFs with quite niche strategies such as distressed equity/debt investing. But would this add too much variation to experience making me a kind of jack of all trades. I would have done BS --> SS --> IBD which is odd because it's usually the opposite way round. But how easy it to move from BB sell side research in a BRIC country back to London for an IBD role? Will they look down on my BRIC experience?

Thanks for your help, I know this was a long post.

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