Advice wanted

[Mickey]

Hi all,
Here is my story.

I am an Electrical Engineer with strong mathematical background, especially in the probability field.

Currently I work as a Programmer on financial business application. (Oracle + Java).

First time I heard for actuaries 10 (TEN) days ago. (Of course, I am an immigrant in Canada and in my ex country we do not have anything like this, at least I am not aware.)

After that I found SOA.ORG and this site and I started to read about certifications that are available.

I have downloaded exams for Course 1 and Course 2 and I tested my self.

Here are my results:

Course 1: I took 3 different exams (Nov00, May01, Nov01), average percentage was 83%.

Course 2: I took 3 different exams (Nov00, May01, Nov01), average percentage was 76%.

These percentages should be enough to pass exams.

And what is my point?

I have no idea what an actuary exactly doing on his job.

What is correlation between questions on the exams and real work that one actuary is suppose to do.

As I said, I have no knowledge in economics and finance directly (except through math) and my question is what additional skills are required for an actuary.

Right know I have no intention of taking real exams (it is to late for November, I have only 2 days for registration) but maybe it is not bad idea for me.

Is it possible to join programmer’s skills and my 'actuary' skills?

Is it worth for me, with my background to go towards actuary certifications and maybe in the future towards becoming an actuary?

Any advice, comment, suggestion is very welcome.

Thanks,

Mickey

[Pillow]

couldn't hurt to do the express mailing and register to take at least one exam. You can weigh the information later after you pass. I suggest registering for an exam and see what happens and learn more about the career as the months go by...

[RiSK kid]

Your scores are that high???

If they are you should try to write at least one of the exams. If I were you I would register through express mail and I would Prob write both if I was scoring that high without any preparation.

Also, you can defintely find actuary work with programming. To find out a bit more about the profession go to www.beanactuary.org

If you pass one or two exams... you should be fine. And also look towards more of an actuarial/programming job since you have that experience!!

[The Drunken Actuary]

You have no knowledge of finance and economics yet averaged 76% on three prior Course 2 exams? Not sure I believe that. And there are actuaries in Canada.

They indicated they are not a Canadian, just living there. I was in life insurance software for almost 10 years for I really found out what an actuary was!

The exams, particularly the earlier ones have little bearing on what most actuaries do. It's the same as other disciplines in that respect.

The percentages you state would seem to indicate that you could possibly attempt one or two exams in November. If you're in Canada, you should investigate faxing the app to the SOA instead of mailing it.

You should look at the website www.beanactuary.com for some ideas on what actuaries do. It's not a question easily answered, it's like asking what an engineer does. In your case, the answer would be - programming. And you could certainly find a job as an actuarial programmer.

A few exams wouldn't hurt if you are staying in the finance area of programming. There will be people that know what the exams are and will appreciate that you have them, even if they aren't directly related to the job.

[Mickey]

When I said no knowledge in Economics and financing, I meant no school knowledge.
Course 2 was much harder for me because Course 1 is straith math (probability is math too), but for Course 2 basically I was just recognising with formulas need to be applied and again I am looking in this as applied math.

[RamPrasad]

Still hard to believe you scored so high in Part 2. Anyway, congratulations!

[Summer]

My job is half programming. Different languages than i learned in school, but if you have a programming degree, they teach you how to learn new languages becuase most languages have common theory attached to it.

Did you sign up?

also, when you were writing these exams, did you time yourself? The time constraints can decrease your score substantially if you are not ready/prepared for it, although, if you can get those scores now without timeing yourself, by November, I am sure you can get faster...

Also, you said all you did was apply the formulas that were there. Do you have the formulas memorized already, or were you using a "cheat sheet"?

[The Drunken Actuary]

Originally Posted by glenn

They indicated they are not a Canadian, just living there. I was in life insurance software for almost 10 years for I really found out what an actuary was!

Not sure who 'they' are, but I did misread Mickey's post about where s/he was from.