Brian, you're a graduate from the MTSU actuarial program. What aspects of the MTSU program did you like? The exam preparation courses before each exam were helpful. Class sizes were about 10 students. It was a comfortable class size for me. You can choose how much you want to participate & competition isn't as important as it would be in a class of 3 or 4. But it was large enough for study groups; you could get with someone if you needed help.
You have recently made a career transition from the claims side of the insurance business to the actuarial side? What made the actuarial side attractive to you? Since I was very young, numbers have interested me. The idea of working with mathematics & numbers on a daily basis is very appealing to me. I was interested in the profession long before the claims business experience.
How important are computer skills in your day-to-day activities? Extremely. I had some Microsoft Excel exposure coming into the actuarial position, but I learned a tremendous amount working over the past few months. In fact, we even use Microsoft Access to do queries on large databases. Some of our data bases have 600,000+ records. Most of my computer experience has been gained on-the-job.
What position do you currently hold and what types of work are you responsible for? I'm an Actuarial Assistant at Caterpillar Insurance, and I work pretty much on pricing on warranties. I've done work mostly with machinery. I haven't done any reserve work yet.
Every career has its plusses and minuses. For you, what's the biggest plus? The control that I have over my career path. I mean, with actuarial science, if you dedicate yourself and pass the exams you control more so than other jobs your advancement & salaries. Most companies have incentives for the passing of exams. And while in every job you have control over the quality of your work, here you have more control on how your work is received.
And biggest minus? I'm new to this; I haven't found one yet. Like I said, when I came out of college, I worked only in the claims business. Here, they pay for study materials, send me to seminars. The hours are fair, and the deadlines are not outrageous. With time that may change, but for now I just don't have one...
