Yeah, that sounds like what I remember. I was discussing it with an actuary at a life insurance company. They ground the numbers about life expecancies and premiums, etc. It looked like a fascinating job, but when we started talking about all the certs and the liability I allowed myself to be scared off. I was a kid at the time. I went Air Force instead of college. Wound up writing software.

M.

>Marty:
>
>>>>>
>I considered Actuary as a career when I was a kid. Aren't they also required to carry some certification? I mean, if an actuary completely botched an estimate, what's the worst thing that could happen?
>>>>>
>
>I was a certified actuary. Certification is fairly expansive (several hundred dollars per exam), difficult (an average person will study over 3 years and 2500 hours to get his Associateship), and uncertain (the passing rate is well below 50%). After going through those, I have very little respect for the
>IT Certifications (MS, Cisco, Oracle, etc) because you can pass an exam after attending a 1 to 5 day class (or read a book over a long weekend).
>
>I was responsible to invest a small portion of the reserve (about $800 million) and I don't want to think what would have happened if I really screwed up.
>
>Daniel