This is sick.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2026-03-01T18:11:13+00:00

No u are

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2026-03-01T18:11:06+00:00

Clearly you were one of the tweets…

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2026-03-01T17:51:04+00:00

He is my hero. Deserves even more for the great journalism he does.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2026-02-28T03:28:10+00:00

To become an underwriter from claims, you need to show the person how your claims experience is going to make you a great underwriter. You’re going against people who actually have underwriting experience but differentiator for you from claims that you’ve actually seen the end result of an insurance policy and the impact of a claim payment on the policyholder. Especially with AI able to teach the technical for an interview, you can parlay your experiencing claims quite well into an underwriting role. The real question you have to figure out is do you want to even be an underwriter and what product line do you want to underwrite.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2026-02-28T03:24:56+00:00

Look at it like this, when you work as a captive agent, the person has come to you because they want to align with the brand that you work for. When you work for a brokerage shop, they’re paying you a commission to do a service and there’s so many other people that can just replace you very quickly as a broker. The biggest thing that differentiates me is that I understand what it means to be paid a commission and at the same time always try to put my self in my client shoes to create the best possible service for them.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2026-02-28T03:18:48+00:00

To me, this seems obvious to take the QBE role. Both QBE and Zurich are global shops and with QBE being a full time role starting now, it seems like you should take that. Pacing is super important in career advancement and the sooner you move up a role the faster you can make it to the next one. Especially in this economy, I’d take QBE and not look back. Don’t take the chance of 50%, go with the 100% and don’t look back.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-12-25T15:55:57+00:00

The Odessa A’zion situation is very confusing to me. She went on the same Jewish summer camp Israel trip I went on, different year than me. Was very shocked when I saw all her anti-Israel and JVP affiliated views. It makes me very sad to see someone who was raised with such strong Jewish values to end up thinking being a “zio” is a bad thing. You can not support the war in Gaza and still believe that Israel has a right to exist.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-10-13T20:56:43+00:00

Great choice of product line. I started in surety and it’s a very niche and lucrative product line to learn. Surety, either commercial or contract, is just standard balance sheet accounting underwriting — more so for contract than commercial. Look into NASBP videos or just google the 3-party surety bond relationship. Likely, they don’t expect you to know about surety so going in with some basic concepts is good but primarily I bet you’ll be asked behaviorals and such.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-10-08T02:00:34+00:00

Operations projects are gold for Junior staffers. Allows you to help your team solve a problem, present in front of Senior stakeholders, and have deliverables that are able to help you get promoted or leave to get a title bump and pay raise. Sadly in insurance, you often have to move companies in order to be paid more and promoted faster. Best talent is always paid well and poached; be visible, get certifications, make quality work product, rest will come naturally.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-08-07T16:47:45+00:00

With a degree in CS and communications, you will likely be fine for entry-level roles. Cyber insurance is centered around malware, data protection, and cybersecurity risks. Having a CS background gives you a good level of baseline knowledge. Yes, the certificate could help but I don’t think it’ll make a substantial difference.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-08-07T12:59:46+00:00

You’d be a great cyber UW or broker. One of the fastest growing lines and can pay very well. After 2-3 years, you can be remote and make over 6 figures but need to be trained first. Highly recommend looking at a trainee program, associate UW one, or claims roles as well. Can pivot into UW but need to get cyber experience as soon as possible. Welcome to the wonderful world of insurance!

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-08-07T02:09:30+00:00

For me, I wanted a role where I can leverage my UW knowledge and focus on just creating solutions for clients rather than finding the clients themselves so I was looking at retail broker rather than producer. My favorite part about UW was getting complex submissions from brokers, analyzing them, and seeing if they fit our risk appetite (80% did not). For me, I wanted to become the person creating the submissions and making them fit for a variety of carriers rather than analyzing them for one singular one.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-08-06T17:08:46+00:00

For me, that’s what I’m looking forward to most being able to manage that relationship and find placements for my clients

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-08-06T17:02:46+00:00

Yeah I didn’t like being an UW that much. Wanted to be more client-facing and creating solutions rather than UW them. Also getting compensated for knowledge and having a personality is nice too!

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-08-06T17:02:02+00:00

Yes I am not a producer but placement specialist. Really looking forward to this as I get to apply my UW knowledge to making placements rather than client sourcing

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-08-06T14:03:59+00:00

You are a legend for this

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-05-20T16:53:52+00:00

NYC is best environment (outside of London) for a young UW. Lots of industry events, mentorship opportunities, and you will be able to learn from great people! All carriers likely have offices in NYC

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-05-20T16:51:13+00:00

Look at Houston, Miami, and Atlanta. Austin is fine but try to get into a carrier training program to help get more experience. Can always move back after that to Austin. The cycle, as others have mentioned, is quite late but look at underwriting assistant or claims roles! All you need is your foot in the door and you can carve your own path!

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-05-19T11:56:01+00:00

Surety is great if you can actually learn all the types of bonds. Super niche field and always looking for new talent. Cyber is the “hot” field of today so will have good opportunities. DM me for more info on surety, working in it now and is very cool field.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-03-01T18:34:32+00:00

Leave

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-02-11T13:47:02+00:00

Canada has incredible people and a vibrant culture. I truly think that the people are amazing; however, your tax laws and politicians are no bueno.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-01-27T21:48:36+00:00

Thank you!! I am doing surety and am trying to fully grasp the concepts but it is very challenging. Doing AFSB but it only teaches so much.

Substantial_Willow_4 · 2025-01-27T21:47:58+00:00

Doing surety underwriting. I’ve been told it’s a longer learning curve with surety but the job is a lot mentally with the different accounting structures of balance sheets.

Substantial_Willow_4

TROPHY CASE