Actuary Studies vs Computer Science? (1 Viewer)

[moonsuyoung]

Hi!
I was wondering what the main difference is between acturial studies and computer science. I'm very confused on what an actuary does. I know they measure financial risks but how (is it through data they collect??) ? How do they apply maths and what type of maths? Are there components in computer science in actuarial studies?

Also, I was wondering why people do degrees in actuary and computer science? Does it benefit each other in careers?

 

[carrotsss]

From my limited knowledge:

Actuarial is basically just tons of really hard statistics. The main purpose of an actuary is for insurance companies etc. to calculate the probability of certain events happening, such as the probability of someone dying for life insurance. Nowadays, this will often involve some computer science

Computer science is pretty much just fancy word for programmer, and I guess you could analyse code and stuff as well

 

[moonsuyoung]

From my limited knowledge:

Actuarial is basically just tons of really hard statistics. The main purpose of an actuary is for insurance companies etc. to calculate the probability of certain events happening, such as the probability of someone dying for life insurance. Nowadays, this will often involve some computer science

Computer science is pretty much just fancy word for programmer, and I guess you could analyse code and stuff as well

Thank you so much for the reply! How do actuaries present these findings?

 

[carrotsss]

Thank you so much for the reply! How do actuaries present these findings?

Idk, if I had to guess it’d be something like excel but that’s a bit beyond what I know

 

[mmmmmmmmaaaaaaa]

Being an actuary all has to do with quantifying and evaluating risk through probability and statistics, and of course mathematics. As @carrotsss said, they are mainly seen in insurance companies, although it isn't only limited to this. In terms of how they demonstrate their findings, it would usually be in the form of a report or presentation, but it all depends on the situation.

It is very useful and often a prestigious career, so that may be a reason for entering into the field. Another reason could be the pay.

Also, UNSW is currently ranked #1 in risk management, insurance and actuarial research globally. If that means anything to you.

Actuarial studies and Computer science is also a common pairing one would pick.

 

[Vall]

if youre gonna do actuarial I would recommend MQ because of their business school scholarships
basically: get ATAR of 97, get in to actuarial. get ATAR of 98, get in to actuarial and be paid $5000 a year. get ATAR of 99, get in to actuarial and be paid $10000 a year

also, lots of people at uni seem to be doing actuarial because they were ok at maths and then looked up well paying maths jobs and actuarial came up (you can expect to earn $160,000 once out of uni and have passed the external exams - so by age 23)

 

[kkk579]

if youre gonna do actuarial I would recommend MQ because of their business school scholarships
basically: get ATAR of 97, get in to actuarial. get ATAR of 98, get in to actuarial and be paid $5000 a year. get ATAR of 99, get in to actuarial and be paid $10000 a year

also, lots of people at uni seem to be doing actuarial because they were ok at maths and then looked up well paying maths jobs and actuarial came up (you can expect to earn $160,000 once out of uni and have passed the external exams - so by age 23)

how many years of experience would get u around 200-300k?

 

[Vall]

how many years of experience would get u around 200-300k?

not sure yet lol still a first year
the $160k figure is from a family friend who works at TAL insurance alongside a lot of actuaries

 

[Vall]

so are you getting $10k a year?

yea, that was the deciding factor to at least try actuarial rather than engineering (like my bio says). so far i’m enjoying it and will probably stay with actuarial

also, going back to @moonsuyoung you could do actuarial + comp sci double degree at UNSW if you want. the coding skills and the way of thinking about code and logic in comp sci is useful for actuarial (and as an actuary you can go into working on data science or machine learning with banks when a comp sci degree is very useful). AND doing any double degree with actuarial is good because then at the end of your degree you will have part I exemptions and most of your part II exemptions (a single degree only gives you part I exemptions)

 

[moonsuyoung]

yea, that was the deciding factor to at least try actuarial rather than engineering (like my bio says). so far i’m enjoying it and will probably stay with actuarial

also, going back to @moonsuyoung you could do actuarial + comp sci double degree at UNSW if you want. the coding skills and the way of thinking about code and logic in comp sci is useful for actuarial (and as an actuary you can go into working on data science or machine learning with banks when a comp sci degree is very useful). AND doing any double degree with actuarial is good because then at the end of your degree you will have part I exemptions and most of your part II exemptions (a single degree only gives you part I exemptions)

Thanks!! Im def considering this!!!

 

[mmmmmmmmaaaaaaa]

what are those?
Also, would you say actuarial has better employment and pay than engineering?

Essentially there are exams you must complete (and pass) in order to become a certified actuary. There are 3 stages, as @Vall has said, you can gain exemptions for the first stages through completing your university degree. They may take several years to complete however, you are allowed to practice as an actuary whilst you undertake these exams (often your employer will pay). This is just like many other professional creditations, such as the cfa (chartered financial analyst) for example.

 

[Vall]

what are those?

yea like mmmmaaaaa said, a bachelor of actuarial studies gives you part I exemptions. With part I you can start working as like a junior actuary.
To get part II exemptions requires a few uni subjects, work experience and two exams (exams are set by the Actuaries Institute of Australia).
Part III exams are completed (generally one a semester) while working. Companies will give you study days (roughly 10 per exam) to take off work (paid) to do these exams. Part III's are focused in one a specific type of actuarial work which is why companies like you doing them. Actuaries like doing the exams because they basically mean you get a pay rise after doing them (and are eligible for more senior / advanced roles).

Also, would you say actuarial has better employment and pay than engineering?

From my research last year (when deciding between the two) it seemed that actuarial has extremely good employment outcomes for those who finish all three exemption sections and good employment for those straight out of uni. So far at uni this seems to be true with a ton of events sponsored by companies looking to hire people and heaps of internship opportunities. Pay also seems really good (especially if even the internships are getting paid).
I'm not too confident on what employment looks like for engineers but from my online research last year it seemed that civil engineers have good employment outcomes. And then mechanical engineers will have good employment if they are happy to do maintenance or HVAC roles (both of which seemed kinda boring to me). And mechatronic engineers (the type I was looking at) seemed to have few jobs available (in Australia) but also didn't seem to have heaps of qualified mechatronic engineers (it was hard to find any definite numbers for this though).

 

[ZakaryJayNicholls]

Hi!
I was wondering what the main difference is between acturial studies and computer science. I'm very confused on what an actuary does. I know they measure financial risks but how (is it through data they collect??) ? How do they apply maths and what type of maths? Are there components in computer science in actuarial studies?

Also, I was wondering why people do degrees in actuary and computer science? Does it benefit each other in careers?

Actuarial Sciences is actually mathematically/statistically quite similar to finance and econometrics, however, because Actuarial Sciences is usually formally accredited (because of the necessity to pass the act exams), it tends to have more intense math/stat.

It has a lot of multiple regression/data analytics, which often has to be done computationally (it's not uncommon for finance and econometrics to have this same quality), but unlike say financial planning (one of the other formally accredited subcategories of commerce which is often associated with finance/econometrics majors) it simply requires a much higher understanding of modelling and analytics.

In terms of other degrees, the mathematics/statistics to graduate as an actuarial scientist is very similar to that of say an electrical engineer (which is often regarded as the hardest main branch of engineering mathematically).

By comparison, Computer Science is often only regulated by the Australian Computing Society and may not even get you professional engineering registration (unless you take Engineers Australia accredited program - Washington accord) and because computing is such a young wild west field this doesn't necessarily matter for a large chunk of the computing industry. But it is a good way to demonstrate advanced understanding of computing.

 

[Bob99]

Hi!
I was wondering what the main difference is between acturial studies and computer science. I'm very confused on what an actuary does. I know they measure financial risks but how (is it through data they collect??) ? How do they apply maths and what type of maths? Are there components in computer science in actuarial studies?

Also, I was wondering why people do degrees in actuary and computer science? Does it benefit each other in careers?

A friend of mine completed actuarial at unsw and now has a job, he showed me a picture of what he does and basically he sits in front of 3 monitors with an excel spreadsheet open with a bunch of numbers,
And he has to find a pattern.

 

[ZakaryJayNicholls]

The course is math heavy, but would you say the job is also math heavy? A lot of courses like computer science have lot's of math that is never used in some software engineer jobs

People in low level or junior position might not, but people in high level and senior positions absolutely will.

If you read papers on Arxiv in engineering or computing or actuarial sciences (or anything technical), you will find an array of papers with mix authors from universities, companies, and professional bodies. These people are often doing almost unbelievably complicated math and these are folk who are often senior technical managers in huge companies.

 

[ZakaryJayNicholls]

Can only people who are naturally good at math become actuaries? Would the actuary job be possible for someone who isn't gifted at math?

People can always train and become better at math, but it would make no sense for someone with little ability/interest in math to try to do senior level positions. The other people in the field are simply going to be orders of magnitude better.

 

[Vall]

People in low level or junior position might not, but people in high level and senior positions absolutely will.

you seem to be saying senior actuaries do lots of maths? from what I've heard so far it seems as if the low level actuaries are the ones doing the most maths (but realistically are using pre-built statistical tools a lot of the time and perhaps modifying them to suit their specific project) and then the senior level roles in an actuarial field are the people managing / coordinating teams and communicating results to management / clients (depending on if you work in consulting or not).
I agree that people doing actuarial research do high level maths / statistics / finance / economics.

 

[Valvesound]

Hi!
I was wondering what the main difference is between acturial studies and computer science. I'm very confused on what an actuary does. I know they measure financial risks but how (is it through data they collect??) ? How do they apply maths and what type of maths? Are there components in computer science in actuarial studies?

Also, I was wondering why people do degrees in actuary and computer science? Does it benefit each other in careers?

why worry about the differences when you can do both!

 

[Valvesound]

so it's a double degree in how many years? I've heard both course are hard to manage, i can't imagine doing both at the same time

just 4 years. It's ok if you manage your time well

 

[ZakaryJayNicholls]

you seem to be saying senior actuaries do lots of maths? from what I've heard so far it seems as if the low level actuaries are the ones doing the most maths (but realistically are using pre-built statistical tools a lot of the time and perhaps modifying them to suit their specific project) and then the senior level roles in an actuarial field are the people managing / coordinating teams and communicating results to management / clients (depending on if you work in consulting or not).
I agree that people doing actuarial research do high level maths / statistics / finance / economics.

Senior people in every quantitative field do much of the most complicated stuff, many senior roles will have research or publications as a requirement (obviously excluding managers - who just do management). Look at the publications of a quantitative focused senior engineer or a senior actuarial scientist at a large corporation like Google/Facebook/CBA/BHP/etc (go to arXiv and browse around - look for publications by industry and professorial collaboration - it won't take you long), they do incredibly quantitatively intense work. Maybe if you are a really bad senior employee, you're not producing complicated work, but in almost every quantitative field the respectable senior positions and the professorial staff collectively do highly complex work. This is how all quantitative fields work - I know quite a lot of people in both industry and academia for both commerce and science - and my person research has routinely relied on work by quite a few of these people.