Are technical skills important for a health student?

[armstrong]

Hi,

I am just wondering if any people working in the health profession think that technical skills, especially computer skills are necessary for the entry level students.

I am an entry level students working for a health insurance company.

When the chief actuary interviewed me, he said that he likes my resume since I have strong technical skills, specifically, computer skills. He's hoping that I can use my skills to improve the efficiency of the team. After I started, he initiated projects such as, building maros and programs to automate the reserve process, building databases and programs to automate the loss analysis process. I was able to utilize my computer skills as well as learning the valuation principal while working on these projects. And I understand that to be a good actuary, in addition to the basic technical skills, I need to understand the insurance concept better. And I am learning.

I don't know starting from when, some of my teammates (both FSAs and non FSAs) are calling me programer. I thought that they were joking initially. However, recently, I realized that they are not joking. If I am able to finish something quickly for the chief actuary, they will say, "oh he's just a grogrammer, he doesn't know anything." Even my own manager is sending me mixed messages. When he needs me to work on something, he will say, "good thing that you have such strong technical skills, things could be done quickly", afterwards, on the back, he says, "I wonder if he knows what he's doing...."

I am so confused by my manager's words. I have 1.5 years of experience in the industry. I understand that I am just a baby and I know nothing yet. and I am trying to learn. However, why are people making fun of my technical skills? I thought that for entry level students, technical skills are important.

[windy]

Technical skills are NO DOUBT important for an entry level students. You can't have a department with everyone only wanting to talk high level and not doing the low level work.

From my own experience, I think your co-workers could be jealous about you since you only have 1.5 years of experience there and sounds like your chief actuary is very pleased with you.

If you are one of those new generation smart kids that learn things quickly, and with strong computer skills, be very humble in front of your own manager and try not to act too aggresive. If things are not better, leave the company. It's not the place for you if you think you have more skills.

The prior company that I worked for, my manager sent mixed messages to me too. "He would be jealous about my technical skills even the projects were assigned by him and even though my knowledge is 20 years behind him. Yet, he would be mad if I said I don't know something."
I ended up finding another job. My current company, there are still office politics. But the manager is able to managed the team well. And he gives opportunites to people who have potential.

[turpin]

They are jealous because you have the potential to be a self-sufficient actuarial consultant. If you can handle every part of a project, from high end to low end, then all you need is to get proper credentials, and what's to stop you from opening your own consulting firm?

I'm not saying that you should do this. I'm just saying that you could do this, and that makes them jealous.

I work as an engineer, and people are jealous of me because they know I'm smart enough to pass the P.E. and S.E. exams and I can use AutoCAD, spreadsheets, and various types of software. They know that once I qualify to take the S.E. exam, I can work for myself. To top it off, my dad is currently working for himself as a P.E., they know this, and so they are even more jealous.

[Polly Nomial]

I don't think jealousy is the motive. It's just habit to assign you the programing projects. Talk to your manager and tell him/her pretty much what you told us here - except don't mention the name calling. It's perfectly all right to let your manager know the type of assignments you are interested in. Just put a positive spin on it. Tell him what you would like without emphasizing what you don't like.

[Mobile Actuary]

Polly, your nic reminded me of something: Google led me to it:

http://home.earthlink.net/~murison/PrettyPolly.html

[Tim><]

Aren't you due for a rotation? Would this solve your problems? As an entry-level, if you don't get rotated within about 2 years, your employer is doing you a disservice.

[oscar peterson]

The comment "I wonder whether he knows what he's doing......" is not necessarily an unreasonable concern. Unless your supervisor can match your technical skills, he must 'trust' that you are implementing technically what is intended conceptually.

Say you write a beautiful computer suite that does everything way faster than ever before -- and your supervisor doesn't understand the coding. Well, I, too, would think "I hope he knows what he's doing" -- because perhaps I can't verify what you are doing. Speculation, of course, but there is some trust involved that can rightfully be examined

[windy]

The comment "I wonder whether he knows what he's doing......" is not necessarily an unreasonable concern. Unless your supervisor can match your technical skills, he must 'trust' that you are implementing technically what is intended conceptually.

Say you write a beautiful computer suite that does everything way faster than ever before -- and your supervisor doesn't understand the coding. Well, I, too, would think "I hope he knows what he's doing" -- because perhaps I can't verify what you are doing. Speculation, of course, but there is some trust involved that can rightfully be examined

An Actuarial Supersisor doesn' necessary need to understand the coding details. But, as a supervisor, he has to know how to test the results and knowing if the codes are functioning correctly or not by analyzing the outcome. What's more, it's the supervisor's job to make sure that the staff knows what he's doing.

[oscar peterson]

Ideally, all true.

[fishhead]

I'd say, "As an entry level student, I'll suggest you not to hesitate to leave a company if you think:

You are not learning anything from the company, and it's not your fault.
Your boss is playing lots of politics and bureaucracy.
Your boss is mean to you when you fail an exam.
Your technical skills and your quick learning ability are not regarded.
Your boss is "too fair" to everyone. Meaning, your boss doesn't promote the person with better future potential.
You boss is "capping" your growth curve intentionally regardless your potential and dedication just because your current level is not high.
People surrounding you have been in the company for years and only care about paycheck. They may appear to know one or two things well but they are afraid of learning new things.
You have bunch of coworkers that will be jealousy if you are a quicker learner. And what's worst, they will say, "the boss is not fair to me" instead of asking themselves how to improve their own learning skills.

[MADISON]

I'd say, "As an entry level student, I'll suggest you not to hesitate to leave a company if you think:

You are not learning anything from the company, and it's not your fault.
Your boss is playing lots of politics and bureaucracy.
Your boss is mean to you when you fail an exam.
Your technical skills and your quick learning ability are not regarded.
Your boss is "too fair" to everyone. Meaning, your boss doesn't promote the person with better future potential.
You boss is "capping" your growth curve intentionally regardless your potential and dedication just because your current level is not high.
People surrounding you have been in the company for years and only care about paycheck. They may appear to know one or two things well but they are afraid of learning new things.
You have bunch of coworkers that will be jealousy if you are a quicker learner. And what's worst, they will say, "the boss is not fair to me" instead of asking themselves how to improve their own learning skills.

That's a long list................................

[fire]

[quote="turpin"]They are jealous because you have the potential to be a self-sufficient actuarial consultant. If you can handle every part of a project, from high end to low end, then all you need is to get proper credentials, and what's to stop you from opening your own consulting firm?
[\quote]

I totally agree with this. If you think you got more potential to grow than the rest of your fellow coworkers, concentrate on your exams, and work hard and try to learn as much as you can. Try your best to ignore those "jealous" people at this moment if possible. In my company, there are always senior level people who get jealousy if the junior staffs are growing faster, or the junior staffs have more technology skills, or the junior staff get to talk to the chief actuary today...blahblahblah....Some of them will even get jealousy if they see the junior staffs get chances to talk to other departments about stuff. If I become a manager one day, I will make sure that I promote the person that has more potential.