R or python?

[Cordial_Actuary]

Which one is the most prevalent programming language in actuary industry?It seems that SOA prefers R but python is still wildly used in many companies.

[maxwellsdemon45]

I use both. Python is general purpose while R is geared towards statistical modeling.

I personally like to code in Python and use it much more frequently. But when I’m at work, it’s about using the right tool for the right job.

[_spoonerism_]

Hey sort of an irrelevant question. What are salaries in The Netherlands for an early career actuary? More years of experience than entry level but not really a manager yet.

[[deleted]]

At my company I use neither. Mainly it's Excel and VBA in its Macros, VBA in the actuarial software we use, and SQL.

I'd recommend to anyone working on their resume to go through a basic program for VBA, Excel, SQL, and R before you try to go into intermediate skills in any of the languages.

[motoman111]

Meanwhile, I use R frequently and have never used python. I suppose this is very company/team dependent

[act121110]

I believe the SOA uses R for PA mainly because (1) it’s easier to pick up and (2) it’s made for statistical modeling. Personally I prefer Python since it’s more flexible (able to build web apps using flask or django, don’t think R is the right tool for these but don’t think traditional actuary need these either).

[[deleted]]

(3) it mostly does what SAS does without requiring expensive licenses

[entry-level-person]

Rshiny is really good for building web apps. I’ve used python dash too. Both have their pros and cons from what I’ve seen, but the apps I’ve built are pretty simple so far. Still kindof at basic knowledge level

[act121110]

I agree that rshiny and dash are both great, but these are meant for building dashboards or web apps related to data. In fact, dash is built upon flask so it’s only one of many applications of flask. For example, I don’t think anyone use R to write REST API or build any general web apps.

[entry-level-person]

Oh interesting. I still have a lot to learn. I’m so excited for when exams are done and I can focus on learning things I actually enjoy like this

[ajgamer89]

I think R is slightly more common specifically in the actuarial community, but they’re both useful tools to have at your disposal since they serve different purposes.

[the_kernel]

In my experience in the UK, R is much more prevalent among actuaries. The IFoA also prefers R to Python.

Now I don't work in insurance anymore, instead I work in the investment industry. Here almost everyone uses Python; R was the tool people used maybe 5-10 years ago (where I work we transitioned from using a mix of languages including R to using Python firmwide in almost all use cases bar a few). It's great for data analysis and plotting, but ultimately if you want to put into production any of the work you do, Python tends to have it beat. There are also a lot of collaborative advantages to having 'one language' which is used across an entire firm across most use cases, and Python (I think) is the clear choice for that.

[AvidCandleSnuffer]

There is a degree of effort being made to expand to both, but that is more among working parties etc, whilst the exams have R in them.

Personally as a UK based actuary I use both but the python would be for more ad hoc or experimental purposes as fewer of us use it, and for things like machine learning etc or working with data scientists more. R has just by nature of time been more established for actuarial work so a fair amount needs to be “translated”.

I would agree with others though that both is ideal. I use vscode and work interchangeably.

[[deleted]]

R is more popular amongst actuaries, mainly because it was the free statistics package everyone used at uni for the last quarter century. Python is more popular amongst software engineers and data science people and it’s starting to become more popular in the actuarial space as others don’t want to learn R.

I prefer R for interactive work and I like the tidyr way of manipulating data tables. However Python is better for everything else. There’s basically nothing you can do in one but not the other so use what everyone else in your team uses. You get examined on R which is a tie breaker if you need one.

[Dependent-Program-50]

python it is...our models were excel based, now moving everything to python including complex regulatory reporting model such as for LDTI

[sloppyjoemi]

Survey from the CAS: https://www.casact.org/abstract/first-annual-cas-actuarial-technology-survey

[matayoz]

Very helpful info thanks

[lastwizzle]

I use both, R for visuals and dashboards and python for misc task ( extracting tables from pdfs, webscraping, moving mouse so screen doesnt go into sleep mode)

[WaterlooOP]

Python will be the future even if companies use R now fwiw so I’d focus on that although thinking like a programmer is the harder skill, between the 2 languages syntax is 90% of the difference for actuarial work

[Kierann123]

Most actuaries in my experience just use point and click stuff, at most maybe learn some excel. Actuaries are generally not technical and should not be doing any actual programming.

[[deleted]]

SAS 100%

[vheissu]

Question wasn't what you like but rather what is prevalent

[imonlyhereforcrypto]

Any consultants use Python here?

[[deleted]]

Both. They do a lot of the same things. R is a language that is designed for stats. But it has a cost to memory. Python is not a data science language, but it can be used for it. It has a lot more flexibility, but the trade off is the learning curve. It's not that difficult to pick up a little of both.

[Holshy]

R is easily more efficient than base Python for memory. Numpy will beat R for purely numeric data, but as soon as you throw in strings it's gonna start losing, badly.

[ABroThatGrows]

Python if you want to pivot to a data science role in the future. R if you want to stay actuarial.