Midlife career change

[stsw]

I have a Ph.D in civil engineering, an M.S in computer science, but, neither of these two careers is close to my heart. I am so tired of what I am doing now.

A friend of mine is an actuary, from my conversation with him, I thought I could be a pretty good actuary. My question is, is it possible for a 34 year old guy with my background to start all over again? If I apply an entry level job, will the interviewers get suspecious? How many exams do you think I need to pass before I start looking for a job? I can pass Exam 1 without too much preparation, Exam 2 should be ok too. But, I need to spend much more time on Exam 3 and 4.

Please help.

[The Drunken Actuary]

Pass 1 and 2 and go for it.

[DW Simpson]

With 2 exams and your background, you should be in good shape to find an entry position, or even 1 exam. 34 definitely isn't "too old" to start in this career, there are plenty of career-switchers who start later than right out of college. I'd focus on passing Part 1 (and not relying on passing it without too much preparation) and then everything else should fall into place. Interviewers don't necessarily get suspicious, it's more that some employers have a propensity to hire students directly out of college, and they and other employers will wonder about your willingness to accept an entry level salary structure. With 2 advanced degrees, you are almost guaranteed to start at a salary significantly lower than you're making now.

[stsw]

Thanks guys for the help.

I don't really mind a pay cut, all I want is to do something I like and something I can see a potential in there.

Here is another question. If it has been discussed before, please provide a link. Can anyone briefly explain the difference between P&C, Life/Health, Pension, and Investment in terms of methodology, working enviroment, and clientele? Which one has a better job opportunity?

Thanks.

[DW Simpson]

http://www.actuary.ca/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5908

http://www.actuary.ca/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6270

[Marshall_Mathers]

If you are considering a career change as an actuary, I would weigh the enormous amount of time that you will have to devote to the exam process especially on the P&C side. People with your credentials still need to put in at least 400 to 500 hours of study time for each exam. The CAS exam process is a dedication test. The material on the exams is not conceptually difficult. Most of the study time needed to pass is devoted to memorizing lists from the various papers. The upper level exams have more questions that can be answered by the average person. It is a race against the clock and other candidates. If you can't answer a list question immediately, you are toast. There is not time to sit back and try to figure out the list based on the conceptual ideas of the paper. It's flat out memorization. Even if the CAS won't admit it, only a fixed proportion of the people will pass the exam. The pass ratios have recently increased slightly becasue of the outcry of some CAS members, but the format of the exams haven't changed that much. Excessive memorization is still required. In hindsight, if someone would have told me this before I joined the profession, I would have chosen a different career. Once you build up a salary base and spend many years in the profession, it's difficult to move onto something else without a huge pay cut.

Good luck in your decision and I hope this information helps.

[joeorez]

Someone summarized the observations of Stuart Klugman (actuarial professor at Drake University) on the subject of life versus p&c:

http://users.aol.com/fcas/advice.html

(Edited for clarification.)

Originally Posted by joeorez

Someone summarized the observations of Stuart Klugman (actuarial professor at Drake University) on this subject:

http://users.aol.com/fcas/advice.html

It does not address mid-life career change, but rather a general observation. Well there is one sentence of wrtitng exam at 45 ..

If you really interested in this search the directory for people with FSA/FCAS and PhDs then ask for their advice.

[hactuary]

I changed careers at 35 to become an actuary. It took 12 years to get my FSA, but I still have a wife and four kids that seem to love me. I really enjoy the work I do. I do both standard actuarial work and management of six others (four actuaries).

The exams are a pain. You need to be reconciled to whether you will go through the pain or stop at ASA. And don't fool yourself thinking that they aren't going to be as hard for you. Your advantage may be in maturity and clarity of what your goals are so you can stay focused.

As with any career, it can go many ways. There isn't just one actuarial job. If you craft your career toward what your strengths are and what you enjoy, this can be a wonderful job. Be willing to step out and try new things in this career, look at problems in a way that isn't the "standard" way (whatever that might be).

[Triweasel]

I started out as an actuarial student at age 32 and so far it's going fine. I passed exam 1 before I got my first job, and have passed 1 exam per sitting since then, crossing my fingers until exam 4 results come out in January. I've been working for about 15 months and just switched to healthcare (from annuities) recently. From my limited experience I think it doesn't really matter where your first job is in this field - the first few months or so is spent getting your bearings in the insurance industry and learning a whole new set of acronyms, etc. With background in engineering and computer science you should pick everything up very quickly, so the only basics you will need will be business stuff, which, by comparison, is pretty light reading.

With your background exam 1 should be straightforward. Just practice a lot and get really fast at the stuff you are good at and you'll be fine. Exam 2 will be mostly new material so you will need to spend significantly more time there, but even so I don't think 400-500 hours should be necessary. I doubt if I spent more than 250 hours on studying for that one.

BTW, my background is physics and mathematics, so I know what it takes to get a PhD in Engineering and trust me - the actuary exams are nowhere near as much work, so don't get scared off by rumors of the monstrous exam system. The way I see it, I'd rather study a little bit extra and get automatic salary raises/bonuses/promotions than have to kiss butts and schmooze my way to the top like in some other fields. I see the exam system as a positive aspect of this career rather than a downside.