Dear AO,
It's almost been 10 years since I've joined the AO, and now it is time to leave.
Since there seem to be many confused individuals out there about what my motivations are for posting in this forum with fairly "controversial" views, I'll try to explain with this post.
The AO careers forum was a gold mine for me. You guys showed me the path. You told me which exams to take, how to format my resume, and even helped me get my first job out of college. 14 months after joining the AO I was put into a career that was better than any alternative I had available at the time (and was a much better career path than what most of my mechanical engineering colleagues obtained).
So when I spend time on this forum, it's mostly to give back to those who are just coming up in the ranks, especially those individuals who are in high school or are a year or two into college. You rarely see me in political or non-actuarial anymore, I am primarily on the AO to help people in careers.
What's not obvious to a lot of youngsters out there, is that when people give you advice, especially (smart) older people, they almost always give advice to make you feel good, rather than telling you advice that may be uncomfortable or require more than a trivial change in path. That's because people care more about themselves at the expense of other people, or maybe they're smart (or seasoned) enough to realize that they won't be able to impact someone's life anyway so why tell them something they don't want to hear (don't worry, I'm moving in that direction, in another 10 years the new level of trolling will be to play along and agree no matter how dumb the comment or idea is).
So to sum up the Ke$ha AO careers advice, here it is.
1. Your career is a very long. You have plenty of time to pick up any details you need to know about insurance while on the job and studying for exams. Most of the learning comes after the exams, the exams are basic education. An entry level may think, wow 3000 hours of studying to get fellowship! Try sitting at a desk for 40 years at 40-50 hours a week and see how many details you'll pick up.
2. You should opt for a major that is flexible and has a high degree of generality. For the same reasons I advise not majoring in actuarial science, I also advise not majoring in pre-law or pre-med. There is no reason to pigeonhole yourself. Details can be learned on the job.
3. If you are very strong in math, major in math. If not, and you're just looking for something applied and still technical, go with computer science or statistics, or both. Physics, electrical, and computer engineering (avoid mechanical) are also great options and will make you a standout candidate for actuarial science jobs as long as you can pass exams. If all those majors sound too hard, go with an econ degree (BA instead of BBA) and take all the math you can handle.
4. For the people who really like statistics, and are thinking about even a remote possibility of grad school, do either a major in math, or a double major in math and computer science. Don't major in statistics unless at a top tier school (many of those individuals end up taking all the math that a normal math major would take at a normal school).
5. Be very wary of individuals who say [insert here] doesn't matter. Almost always, such variable does matter (otherwise they wouldn't be talking about it), and the reason they don't think it matters usually has to do with biased samples from standardized hiring processes when discussed in corporate contexts.
6. If you have any questions, email me at aokesha@gmail.com.
Best,
Ke$ha
It's almost been 10 years since I've joined the AO, and now it is time to leave.
Since there seem to be many confused individuals out there about what my motivations are for posting in this forum with fairly "controversial" views, I'll try to explain with this post.
The AO careers forum was a gold mine for me. You guys showed me the path. You told me which exams to take, how to format my resume, and even helped me get my first job out of college. 14 months after joining the AO I was put into a career that was better than any alternative I had available at the time (and was a much better career path than what most of my mechanical engineering colleagues obtained).
So when I spend time on this forum, it's mostly to give back to those who are just coming up in the ranks, especially those individuals who are in high school or are a year or two into college. You rarely see me in political or non-actuarial anymore, I am primarily on the AO to help people in careers.
What's not obvious to a lot of youngsters out there, is that when people give you advice, especially (smart) older people, they almost always give advice to make you feel good, rather than telling you advice that may be uncomfortable or require more than a trivial change in path. That's because people care more about themselves at the expense of other people, or maybe they're smart (or seasoned) enough to realize that they won't be able to impact someone's life anyway so why tell them something they don't want to hear (don't worry, I'm moving in that direction, in another 10 years the new level of trolling will be to play along and agree no matter how dumb the comment or idea is).
So to sum up the Ke$ha AO careers advice, here it is.
1. Your career is a very long. You have plenty of time to pick up any details you need to know about insurance while on the job and studying for exams. Most of the learning comes after the exams, the exams are basic education. An entry level may think, wow 3000 hours of studying to get fellowship! Try sitting at a desk for 40 years at 40-50 hours a week and see how many details you'll pick up.
2. You should opt for a major that is flexible and has a high degree of generality. For the same reasons I advise not majoring in actuarial science, I also advise not majoring in pre-law or pre-med. There is no reason to pigeonhole yourself. Details can be learned on the job.
3. If you are very strong in math, major in math. If not, and you're just looking for something applied and still technical, go with computer science or statistics, or both. Physics, electrical, and computer engineering (avoid mechanical) are also great options and will make you a standout candidate for actuarial science jobs as long as you can pass exams. If all those majors sound too hard, go with an econ degree (BA instead of BBA) and take all the math you can handle.
4. For the people who really like statistics, and are thinking about even a remote possibility of grad school, do either a major in math, or a double major in math and computer science. Don't major in statistics unless at a top tier school (many of those individuals end up taking all the math that a normal math major would take at a normal school).
5. Be very wary of individuals who say [insert here] doesn't matter. Almost always, such variable does matter (otherwise they wouldn't be talking about it), and the reason they don't think it matters usually has to do with biased samples from standardized hiring processes when discussed in corporate contexts.
6. If you have any questions, email me at aokesha@gmail.com.
Best,
Ke$ha
Ke$ha's farewell
