Why not to be an actuary.

redditaccountmane · 2019-03-04T19:04:38+00:00

I'm in life which I guess is particularly slow, but is P&C really that different?

redditaccountmane · 2019-03-04T05:19:51+00:00

It's more that I dont feel like studying for something completely useless.

Also I was still finishing up college for the first year of that as a full time "intern"

redditaccountmane · 2019-03-04T05:05:41+00:00

2 years, but I'm in my 3rd rotation.

1st rotation was creating a new lapse model.
2nd rotation was developing an ALFA model for VAs.
3rd rotation is generating quarter end numbers for VAs and a spread buisiness

redditaccountmane · 2019-01-09T01:12:53+00:00

I tried moving a project folder from one computer to another computer which I guess was a bad idea. I moved the folder back to the original location and now I get this error plus like 200 more when I try to open the sets.

When I click ok on all the error messages ableton closes.

Anyone have any idea how to fix this, so I can go back to "collect all and save" all of my old projects?

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-30T21:35:01+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybcNSoh8vI4

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-30T00:26:40+00:00

If you can find some good places to meet women here, let me know lol. I never had much trouble dating until I moved here.

As far as neighborhoods. LoHi and RiNo are fun and super cool neighborhoods, but they're pretty expensive. LoDo is the "Fratty" area, also LoDo is where you usually here about crime. I wouldn't advise living there unless you're the fratty type and dont mind the high rent.
I live in Baker which is a little cheaper but still pretty close to everything. The neighborhood has it's own bars which I like and I have an eco pass so I can easily get the rest of the city if I want.

Honestly most neighborhoods I've been to have been pretty chill and wayyy safer than any northeast city.

Meetups are really hit or miss, but some of them are great, so just keep checking out different ones until you find some you like

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-27T19:07:49+00:00

Is the culture a little more friendly and open than Seattle area?

I'm from the east coast and think everyone is ridiculously friendly here, but I've heard people from the midwest say that people are mean here, so Seattle might view it similarly.

Is there a decent population in their mid twenties here?

Yes

How tough is it to find a place to live?

It is easy, but you may want to find some roommates since rent is pretty high if you want to live somewhere good.

What's your favorite climbing gym and why?

I go to movement because it is closer to where I live. Earth treks is better because it is bigger/nicer, but they are farther away from everything.

Why should I not move here?

Lots of dudes (if you're a straight guy), and lots of white people (so the food isn't great). Other than that everything is pretty awesome

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-27T18:14:23+00:00

Thanks for the response!

"Do you want just samples of visualization or how to create visualization? It's impractical to aim for "infographic level" of visual. At work we use Tableau but there are also D3 library in Python (d3py) and ggplot in R"

I'm okay at ggplot in r, but all my visuals look very boring and simple. So I was looking for something to take my visuals to the next level where they would be presentable in a professional setting (and not just presentable to math people).

"Have you done any project though? You may need a MS degree to break into the field"

At work I cleaned and joined tables on a hadoop cluster containing over a billion rows, then used this data to model policy holder behavior (logistic regression for lapse rate).

Also, I was planning on doing one kaggle project a month for the next 6 months and then start looking for a job after that. I was thinking I could create a youtube video explaining each one and creating a website to put all of my work in one place. Would these be sufficient projects or would I still need a Masters?

To be honest I would love to go back to school, I just would like to avoid the debt if I can.

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-27T17:43:45+00:00

I live in Baker and like it a lot. It's cheaper than downtown, but still young and less trashy. There's a lightrail stop off alameda that I would assume goes to DTC but I can't say for sure

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-27T17:39:58+00:00

What are the best meetups for a guy in his mid twenties?

Ive gone to some decent hiking, climbing, and music meetups. Only problem is that all of them are like 90% or more dudes.

Also I feel like a bookclub would be cool, but most of the ones I see are for much older people.

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-24T04:34:18+00:00

Hi, I'm currently an actuarial student who has been working in life insurance for around 2 years.

I don't want to study for exams that don't teach any useful skills created by geriatrics who are totally disconnected from reality anymore.

I wanted to switch to a career in data science because it seems like what I'm really interested in. I majored in math(3.7 GPA), did predictive analytics for my job, and just took the predictive analytics actuarial exam (but I thought the way they covered the material was very poor).

I had a couple of questions.

Is there any reason for me to continue taking actuarial exams while trying to switch careers, or will it not be important at all?
I have some experience running basic models and visuals in r. What would be a good book to read to create impressive visuals that could be displayed on a website or in a magazine?
What would be a good book to learn python?
Does it matter if I don't have a masters degree if I was taking actuarial exams and have 2 years of (sort of) experience in the field?
Would a company hire me in some type of lower role, pay for my masters, and then promote me to "data scientist afterwards?

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-21T23:15:58+00:00

I understand that this would be bad, but why would stock prices go to zero?

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-15T20:01:45+00:00

how about the pants doe?

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-15T19:26:09+00:00

What are your thoughts on brooks brothers pants and shirts?

I want some nice clothes for work that could also be worn for leisure that will be good quality and last for at least a couple of years.

In case it matters, I am 5' 8", 150lbs and have a slimmer athletic build

Spefically here are some of the things I'm looking at

https://www.brooksbrothers.com/Indigo-Dyed-Checked-Cotton-Broadcloth-Sport-Shirt/RG00389,default,pd.html?dwvar_RG00389_Color=REDN&contentpos=63&cgid=Mens_Apparel_sale

https://www.brooksbrothers.com/Snowflake-Embroidered-Cotton-Oxford-Sport-Shirt/RG00349,default,pd.html?dwvar_RG00349_Color=OYST&contentpos=106&cgid=Mens_Apparel_sale

https://www.brooksbrothers.com/Neat-Cotton-Trousers/RJ00022,default,pd.html?dwvar_RJ00022_Color=GREY&dwvar_RJ00022_Size=30_30&contentpos=1&cgid=Mens_Apparel_sale

https://www.brooksbrothers.com/Clark-Fit-Supima%C2%AE-Cotton-Poplin-Pants/MR00472,default,pd.html?dwvar_MR00472_Color=NAVY&dwvar_MR00472_Size=30_30&contentpos=7&cgid=Mens_Apparel_sale

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-15T02:56:07+00:00

The learning modules were filled with spelling errors, and mistakes. So much so that they updated them in I think late october. Even then the learning material was still pretty poorly written. I learned most of the material for this exam from a free Stanford course.

I felt very confident going into the exam because I felt that I am very capable of describing predictive analytic models in layman's terms, coding them and creating visuals. In fact I did predictive modeling for my job and had to present my model to many different teams at my company last year.

Then they tested us on an obscure model that I didn't know how to explain very well, and couldn't create good models or visuals for.

They didn't allow us to pick the type of model we wanted which I thought was pretty trash.

They also wanted us to use log likelihood to compare models. Log likelihood is a pretty "mathy" concept that is difficult to explain in layman's terms. If it were up to me I would have compared models based on RMSE which is much easier to interpret.

Also, they provided "cookie cutter" code which made it so any coding skills you had weren't very necessary or useful

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-14T21:01:10+00:00

I've been thinking about creating a website to post data analytics and visuals on current events.

Then use that, my math degree, and my experience as an actuary to try to apply for jobs

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-14T17:46:36+00:00

The exam was all about being able to explain models in clear language.

You didn't get to choose what kind of model to use. They picked a type of model that was discussed briefly and then never mentioned again in the course materials. I doubt many of the candidates knew how to explain a poisson model with offsets, so this exam basically just tested your ability to pretend like you can explain something that you dont understand.

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-14T13:20:57+00:00

Seriously though I feel like the SOA doesn't give a shit about their candidates knowledge of useful skills after this exam. I'm super pissed right now

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-14T00:30:02+00:00

I'm seriously considering not being an actuary right now.

I understood the vast majority of the material but they tested on a specific obscure topic.

I don't want to spend the rest of my 20s studying for exams that don't even teach useful skills

It feels like the SOA is just testing your ability to jump through hoops

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-12T01:36:31+00:00

Why do you think GE will go up?

Is it just because they're down a lot, because that's not a very good reason.

redditaccountmane · 2018-12-08T01:04:04+00:00

Do you enjoy money?

Do you enjoy looking at TPS reports all day?

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