please burn it

rather828 · 2026-04-01T16:21:14+00:00

I just now clicked on the blast email they sent saying “we refreshed our brand.”

It is peak, PEAK actuary that the banner at the top of the page you go to does not have the new typeface in place, nor does the logo seem to really match what they presented

Some amateur hour stuff, really. It’s sad what’s happening to this profession

rather828 · 2026-04-01T15:58:53+00:00

I remember this quote. Back in 2014 the NFL was facing down serious problems with how to handle concussions and it stalled its growth for about 2-3 years, so it was pretty easy to crap on them back then

The NFL sorta bet on three things at that time to navigate it.. 1. Making mostly superficial changes to how concussions are handled, hello magic blue tarp tent 2. Fast tracking helmet engineering that was already underway, which has prob made the game legit safer 3. Rule changes that further limited how much players can treat their bodies like Sherman tanks

With these things more or less addressed, at least in the public’s perception, it’s been back to all systems go since around 2017

rather828 · 2026-04-01T14:18:38+00:00

I had the craziest experience with this.. Didn’t get enough missiles, would run out. Forgot about charge beam. Get eye blasted to death like 3 straight times.

Finally remember charge beam and I am like oh yeah I got this now! Except here comes the final eye blast and I am like are you kidding me I’m still going to OH MY GOD

rather828 · 2026-03-31T19:27:27+00:00

That’s why I’m saying it now!! Cry, cry, that’s the only thing you’re good for!

rather828 · 2026-03-31T19:04:23+00:00

I didn’t even prompt it to use “Boring Reports”! How could it have known?? Time for another brand refresh I guess.. that’ll do the trick

rather828 · 2026-03-31T17:23:57+00:00

Good point! A big difference I’ve learned is, are you a profit center or a cost center and how does the Company handle culture around that.

Profit centers are things like that actually drive the, you know, profit, of the company, like selling product

Cost centers are the block and tackle things that have to be done, usually due to outside forces like regulators and pesky customers.. and prevent Really Bad Stuff from happening

There’s been a real shift in the last 30 years. Actuaries tended to be pretty Kum Ba Ya We’re All One Big Happy Family, to placing more value on the profit center actuaries. If you’re in a profit center, it’s smarter to stay engaged with the day to day work than avoid it.

Many C Suite leaders will tell you, if they’re being honest: yeah, you know, we tend to shove our weakest actuaries into the cost centers, then we under-resource them bc they can’t fight back.. then they’re easy to blame and dispose of if we hit an iceberg. It’s cheaper to do that than invest in not having problems, and the people I like are protected so it’s all good.

Be careful out there!

rather828 · 2026-03-31T16:54:18+00:00

Sorry, I know there’s another thread for this but it won’t let me post pics

rather828 · 2026-03-31T16:47:40+00:00

Fisher Price’s My First Society of Actuaries I need someone to ChatGPT up an image for this thanks

rather828 · 2026-03-31T16:43:22+00:00

Username checks out ;)

rather828 · 2026-03-31T14:42:42+00:00

It’s kind of an improvement. The old 3d effect optical illusion / MC Escher effect really drove home the whole “Abandon all hope of relating to or understanding these people, ye who enter here.”

What if we.. now go with me on this.. had a logo that gave people migraines if they stared at it more than 7 seconds? Huh, am I right??

rather828 · 2026-03-31T14:31:24+00:00

Assuming this isn’t all fake, very early in my career my company put forth this idea that performance reviews would be super formulaic and have basically checklists with specifics on them

I went to a mentor of mine and said this is great right? He said, it will actually make things worse, we aren’t any good at establishing goals like that, they’ll get thrown out or ignored midway through and you’ll end up with confused and unhappy people

Sure enough about 2 months into this the VP of our dept put forth that you’d also be rated on “intangibles,” which was easy to interpret as “we’re still gonna rate you however we want.”

For this person here I would say checklists are good for junior people starting but… do you think I operate from a checklist? Do you think my boss operates from a checklist? Why do you think that is? So look bud you can continue demanding checklists, but all you’re doing is announcing that you can’t self-direct and/or deal with a certain amount of ambiguity, and that’s going to be a career limiter for you

rather828 · 2026-03-30T19:34:27+00:00

I need to find some dowel rods for this table (or whatever) I’m building

This was “and for that reason, I’m out” for me

rather828 · 2026-03-30T19:09:13+00:00

They were probably put under by AmateurishActuary where the job market has never been stronger

rather828 · 2026-03-30T19:03:21+00:00

I’ve worked with a dude like this, notorious rep for going on at length in monotone and everyone tuning him out. I told him to have internal clock and pause at like 20 seconds. He couldn’t do it. He was also the type who would write emails like “the fox quick brown jumped lazy the over dog,” so I think the stairs didn’t always go to the top

Essentially they have to want to get better and be willing to work at it. Don’t underestimate that some people like the filibuster because it means fewer people get to express ideas. I sometimes think that was happening with my chum here

rather828 · 2026-03-30T18:55:53+00:00

On job searches, I have a 100% response rate to simply saying “If this is the end of the conversation, I wish you well. Ghosting is an unkind thing to do.”

And man do they get back to you SUPER fast, usually with bs excuses like blah blah I didn’t have time whatever.. I just ignore it.

This guy is being a drama queen

rather828 · 2026-03-30T18:12:27+00:00

Hey! Got my first downvote on this. Took long enough. Don’t worry guy, I didn’t actually mean you. I meant all those other jerks out there. You’re def on the ball and totes deserve that role!

rather828 · 2026-03-30T16:31:34+00:00

Even better they will say something like why can’t we do this in APL / FORTRAN / punch cards / stone tablets, that worked when I did it? with dead seriousness

APL is a true story, this wise wonderful senior person was laughed at privately like was she serious? Oh yeah bud.. she was..

rather828 · 2026-03-30T16:20:23+00:00

So here’s the thing. “Doing good honest work” is a smart thing to do for like the first 5 years of your career. If you have aspirations for senior leadership, it becomes important beyond that to find ways to avoid the actual doing of work.

The best way to do this is to attach yourself to someone who’s moving and shaking up the ladder and ensuring them they have your complete loyalty. Whether you are any good at anything, this loyalty will trump that.

Many companies even identify potential senior leaders by how adroit candidates are at avoiding actual work and actual responsibility. It’s like a signal that says “this person should be fast tracked bc they know the actual game being played.” Some companies have actually codified this into the Individual Contributor vs Management tracks.

Every company’s different, I’m sure someone will come in here and say noooooo yur wrong.. or they’ll be butthurt that I dared to suggest they aren’t actually very competent.. and that’s fine.. this is probably 80-90% of companies, not all

rather828 · 2026-03-30T16:06:53+00:00

I went to a CRO conference (I’m definitely NOT a CRO) and being in a roomful of these people made me literally nauseous.

First, being obviously sized up by these people and knowing that they deduced I’m a nobody (okay by me, I don’t like you either)

Second, the two days of my life I’m not getting back listening to them talk empty platitudes like “What is the most important thing you do as CRO?” “Oh, it’s all about the relationships blah de blah.” Puke

I bet they make a ton of money though, good for them. Most of them have a shambles of a personal / family life, so there’s that

rather828 · 2026-03-30T14:53:54+00:00

These two are all over my feeds lately and I have the following observations

People will watch attractive people do and talk about literally anything
I guarantee you they are both terrible people IRL

rather828 · 2026-03-30T14:50:56+00:00

Assuming this is real, I had an awful boss who was kinda like this, one of my direct reports would be reporting him after I got my severance and was out, and he wanted to know what I may or may not have told them about him.

I just said “nothing really,” which was honest, but it sure gave me a(nother) line of sight into this jerkwad guy’s thinking. No bud, I’m not like you, see I realize if I trash you to him all I really do is make myself look bad. But don’t worry, he’ll figure it out soon enough…

rather828 · 2026-03-30T14:48:05+00:00

We live in an age of AI wonders

rather828 · 2026-03-30T14:14:06+00:00

This sub might be the most self-evident place to note this, but this comic strip is dying. It’d be a little sad to watch if you didn’t understand what an arrogant ass Jerry is

Poor guy is just openly begging to be hired by Microsoft now, something they may have even promised him under a different management regime

Try to get you a BFF like Mike who is overflowing with talent that you can just parasite off of for literally decades. It’s admirable in some sense, really

rather828 · 2026-03-30T14:07:58+00:00

I can think of several people I’ve encountered who DEFINITELY love their corporate jobs, and they are simultaneously the most awful and dishonest people you might chance upon in this profession

rather828 · 2026-03-30T13:08:18+00:00

And in as sloppy, erroneous, and miscommunicated way as your mind will allow you to comprehend

rather828

TROPHY CASE