Want to be an actuary? Odds are, you’ll fail the test
One of the most frustrating aspects of the process is that once outside of insurance&#x2F;insurance-adjacent industries, the credentials are useless. I have my FSA (fellowship of the SOA) and CERA (chartered enterprise risk analyst) from the SOA. I no longer wanted to work in insurance and left for data science. I felt the need to obtain a graduate degree to feel qualified enough for the data science space. My Master&#x27;s degree was a cake-walk compared to the actuarial process but that is what my peers care about, and I always feel not quite at the same level as my peers with PhD&#x27;s.<p>It&#x27;s even more constrained than my experience. The U.S has two actuarial governing bodies: the CAS and SOA - the former handles P&amp;C, the latter just about everything else (life, health, retirement). The two organizations hate each other and it&#x27;s almost impossible to get a respectable job in one industry if you have the wrong credentials. What makes it even more crazy is that the two orgs have the same exact first couple of qualifying exams.<p>My advice has always been: only consider dedicating your time to these exams if you&#x27;re highly certain this is the career you want. The pay isn&#x27;t as great as it once was, you&#x27;re constrained to legacy industries, the process is as time-consuming as a PhD without getting the respect that comes along with it, and you need to decide early on which area of insurance you&#x27;ll want to practice.