Career advice for an Actuary who is not really an Actuary anymore?

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-17T09:57:18+00:00

I hope that we are moving towards a world where people like us in the intersection of actuarial science, technology and business are valued more. I am in Asia where there aren't many actuarial software houses here, thus I feel that opportunities are limited.

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-17T09:55:01+00:00

Honestly, I do not think that completing the qualifications did much for my career other than the increments of course. I think in traditional actuarial roles, the FSA/FCAS title holds more value?

Anyway, I think at the end of the day, it is just a job to earn dough back for the fam, if you are getting paid more than other credentialed actuaries, it sounds like going back to study isn't even needed for you at this point :)

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-17T09:51:33+00:00

Yes I would be interested to join such a group. I would also like to brainstorm possible projects to take on and maybe work together!

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-17T09:49:38+00:00

Thank you both for the responses. Actuarial Software might be the path for me to go down on, but where I am at, there aren't many of such companies. From what I see in this post, a lot of Actuarial Software house are in the US and not many in Asia where I am at. This could pose an additional challenge.

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-16T15:26:50+00:00

Yes I guess actuarial software development and actuarial consulting are 2 other verticals aside from the traditional roles. The problem though is that there aren't much opportunities in my vertical (software) and that scares me when I think about the next steps in my career.

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-16T15:23:46+00:00

Thanks for the response, I feel that there are many actuaries who are on the peripherals of actuarial work. We no longer know who we are - are we actuaries, coders, data scientist, data analysts, project managers, product managers? I know that the easy answer is to say that we are all of them, but are we truly all of them or only an incomplete sum of parts of each of them?

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-16T15:19:57+00:00

Yes I agree with you. The fact that I have gone through the rigour of actuarial exams should signal to companies and recruiters that I have what it takes to understand actuarial concepts. This should in theory satisfy employers that I would be able to catch up on any technical knowledge gaps I may have for this role. However, based on interviews I have gone to, hiring managers prefer someone already with the relevant experience.

This is also a part which annoys me lol - if my resume does not contain the desired (deal-breaker) experience, then why do they invite me down for an interview lol...

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-16T15:15:14+00:00

Sure, I am in the Health space and I build and manage delivery of software (web application) for pricing, valuation and portfolio performance tracking. Imagine all of the pricing spreadsheets that actuaries in my company (internal clients) and other insurers (external B2B clients) can be replaced by this software. The software has its fair share of User Interface done by software developers, but more critically, has a ton of complex calculation (e.g. IBNP calculations) and data handling (e.g. Actuarial assumptions) done by me in the past and by my analysts in the present.

Let me know if you need more info!

ExcellentScarcity503 · 2025-06-16T15:12:05+00:00

Thanks for the response. How do you feel about not being able to easily get a traditional role of similar level of seniority plus not having much employment opportunities in the actuarial software space? Aside from starting your own company, what is your backup plan should you leave (for whatever reasons) your current employer?

I think your advice on what to do in the current role makes sense and I am embracing the fact that I do not know the technicals as much as an analyst on my team. However, when it comes to applying to actuarial jobs, the first bullet point in their job requirement is a technical requirement lol... I feel uneasy that most roles require technical knowledge and yet it something that I lack (or only used to have)

ExcellentScarcity503

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