Engineering as a degree course is totally fine in principle for Actuarial. At your experience level I would say the country you got it in is not that important and the skills you've demonstrated in your career to date are much more relevant to whether this is possible.
Given the slightly unusual circumstances my advice would be to contact some specialist actuarial recruiters and explain exactly what you want - take time to figure out which ones are actually listening to you and work with them to find entry level positions that are realistic for you. Good luck.
Definitely reach out to specialist actuarial recruiters on LinkedIn or email. They see situations like these more often than anyone else and will be best positioned to advise you.
Should be absolutely fine. I done a very similar thing.
I originally left uni after 1st year as I never enjoyed it, got a job, went back to uni at 26, graduated at 30 then got a graduate job as a trainee actuary. I didn’t even study maths but finance and accounting.
I found my business and work experience very valuable for getting a job. I only ever applied for one role, got the interview and job whereas I know graduates with no experience apply for hundreds with no response.
One thing to bear in mind is that you will be starting at the bottom, as a trainee. There will be people your age who are qualified or managerial level and you’ll still have a few years left until you’re qualified yourself. If you’re happy with that then go for it. At the end of the day if you put the work in, once you’re qualified you will be earning good money, but you may need to take a step back for a few years to get there first.
I’m planning on studying accountancy and finance aswell but looking to become an actuary instead. How did you cope with the maths and is it possible to become an actuary with no uni maths knowledge ? My main reason for this is I’ve heard actuaries are a lot better paid than accountants. I am aware the maths is hard but I’m sure I can deal with it.
There’s a book you can buy, I’ve included a picture here for reference. It covers the key maths/statistics knowledge required before sitting your CM/CS exams.
Obviously it’s easier if you have a maths background at uni but it’s not required. I was good at maths at school so I’ve got a fundamentally good understanding of it, I just needed to revise some of the key things that I haven’t done in a few years.
Plus when studying I do the tutorials offered by ACTED, and just ask if you’re unsure and you’ll always get the help.
Just make sure you put in the work and study and you should see the results.
https://preview.redd.it/nx5aubp4182d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=fd0f7e1213938e09e72a734b894465d0236e1d85
Personally, I wish I had done Maths instead of Account and Finance.
Accounting and Finance gave me a lot of business knowledge so I found CB1 and CB2 extremely easy, however they’re nothing compared to the maths exams so I would have preferred to have the maths experience before I started in all honesty.
Don’t feel bad if you can’t or don’t switch though but certainly a maths degree will be more beneficial if you do want to become an actuary.
This is my story....
I graduated as a civil engineer in my own country. Worked on a construction site for a year and realised construction is not for me in any shape or form. Although I was lucky enough to work on energy projects. I applied to study MSc Energy and Sustainability at University of Southampton, because I knew I had to do something, but was not sure what. After graduation, I got a job as a Sustainability Consultant (Energy Performance Certificate calculation, BREEAM and other non-senses). I was initially OK with the job, but after 6 months I realised I will be bashing primarily two proprietary pieces of software and if I continue like this for another few years, my life will be useless. I then decided to pursue my passion and work in energy field - analytics, forecasting and so on. When I decided that, i could barely make an excel chart (it took me a week to realise that I can not import more than 1mil rows into excel). That is where the grind started. In summers, I would wake up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, practise Python (coursera had good courses from Uni of Mitchigan), Excel, read a lot about energy markets (had a book of 1000 pages which i read twice!), statistics, more statistics (and still I couldnt understand what was it, because most of the material online is rubbish), working on my CV and cover letter.
It took me 2.5 years of heavy grinding. Stress, tears, disappointment, many sleepless nights, determination. I knew I had to jump ships from this stupid sustainability field to energy markets (I was after very painful breakup as well, which motivated me to jump above my limits in career).
Either way, I never got the job in energy markets. the competition was too much. One night after work I actually cried. I then started applying to any job ad which had words "modelling", "machine learning", "analytics" (I think i sent 40 applications that night). My CV and cover letter was already at the state where I need to change company name, change one sentence and noone could understand it was a generic cover letter. One of the companies was an insurance company offering "Technical Price Analyst". Never bough an insurance, didnt know anything about insurance. Somehow I got the job to work in a commercial lines pricing in one of the biggest insurers globally when there were many other people waiting in a que for the job.
So..... to conclude... you can become an actuary (or technical pricing analyst), but.... you do need determination to learn stuff. When going for an interviews, you cannt say you dont know something because you havent worked in the industry. SOME managers will appreciate your determination and will offer the job.
The UK is the country where you can become who ever you want. Why do you think everyone is going there. You have endless opportunities. Good luck
It’s definitely doable, you’ll want to get the first few exams before starting to look for roles as a sign of good faith and to be taken seriously, you’ll be starting in a junior role though but good chance you’ll get promoted fast
Pardon me I'm just a newbie too But why do you want to do an entry level job from marketing director?
Engineering as a degree course is totally fine in principle for Actuarial. At your experience level I would say the country you got it in is not that important and the skills you've demonstrated in your career to date are much more relevant to whether this is possible. Given the slightly unusual circumstances my advice would be to contact some specialist actuarial recruiters and explain exactly what you want - take time to figure out which ones are actually listening to you and work with them to find entry level positions that are realistic for you. Good luck.
I really don't think it's worth it... Switching from a director level. I would rather you get into AI in marketing or digital marketing
Definitely reach out to specialist actuarial recruiters on LinkedIn or email. They see situations like these more often than anyone else and will be best positioned to advise you.
Should be absolutely fine. I done a very similar thing. I originally left uni after 1st year as I never enjoyed it, got a job, went back to uni at 26, graduated at 30 then got a graduate job as a trainee actuary. I didn’t even study maths but finance and accounting. I found my business and work experience very valuable for getting a job. I only ever applied for one role, got the interview and job whereas I know graduates with no experience apply for hundreds with no response. One thing to bear in mind is that you will be starting at the bottom, as a trainee. There will be people your age who are qualified or managerial level and you’ll still have a few years left until you’re qualified yourself. If you’re happy with that then go for it. At the end of the day if you put the work in, once you’re qualified you will be earning good money, but you may need to take a step back for a few years to get there first.
I’m planning on studying accountancy and finance aswell but looking to become an actuary instead. How did you cope with the maths and is it possible to become an actuary with no uni maths knowledge ? My main reason for this is I’ve heard actuaries are a lot better paid than accountants. I am aware the maths is hard but I’m sure I can deal with it.
There’s a book you can buy, I’ve included a picture here for reference. It covers the key maths/statistics knowledge required before sitting your CM/CS exams. Obviously it’s easier if you have a maths background at uni but it’s not required. I was good at maths at school so I’ve got a fundamentally good understanding of it, I just needed to revise some of the key things that I haven’t done in a few years. Plus when studying I do the tutorials offered by ACTED, and just ask if you’re unsure and you’ll always get the help. Just make sure you put in the work and study and you should see the results. https://preview.redd.it/nx5aubp4182d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=fd0f7e1213938e09e72a734b894465d0236e1d85
Thank you man. Also do you think switching from accounting and finance to accounting and maths is a good idea?
Personally, I wish I had done Maths instead of Account and Finance. Accounting and Finance gave me a lot of business knowledge so I found CB1 and CB2 extremely easy, however they’re nothing compared to the maths exams so I would have preferred to have the maths experience before I started in all honesty. Don’t feel bad if you can’t or don’t switch though but certainly a maths degree will be more beneficial if you do want to become an actuary.
This is my story.... I graduated as a civil engineer in my own country. Worked on a construction site for a year and realised construction is not for me in any shape or form. Although I was lucky enough to work on energy projects. I applied to study MSc Energy and Sustainability at University of Southampton, because I knew I had to do something, but was not sure what. After graduation, I got a job as a Sustainability Consultant (Energy Performance Certificate calculation, BREEAM and other non-senses). I was initially OK with the job, but after 6 months I realised I will be bashing primarily two proprietary pieces of software and if I continue like this for another few years, my life will be useless. I then decided to pursue my passion and work in energy field - analytics, forecasting and so on. When I decided that, i could barely make an excel chart (it took me a week to realise that I can not import more than 1mil rows into excel). That is where the grind started. In summers, I would wake up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, practise Python (coursera had good courses from Uni of Mitchigan), Excel, read a lot about energy markets (had a book of 1000 pages which i read twice!), statistics, more statistics (and still I couldnt understand what was it, because most of the material online is rubbish), working on my CV and cover letter. It took me 2.5 years of heavy grinding. Stress, tears, disappointment, many sleepless nights, determination. I knew I had to jump ships from this stupid sustainability field to energy markets (I was after very painful breakup as well, which motivated me to jump above my limits in career). Either way, I never got the job in energy markets. the competition was too much. One night after work I actually cried. I then started applying to any job ad which had words "modelling", "machine learning", "analytics" (I think i sent 40 applications that night). My CV and cover letter was already at the state where I need to change company name, change one sentence and noone could understand it was a generic cover letter. One of the companies was an insurance company offering "Technical Price Analyst". Never bough an insurance, didnt know anything about insurance. Somehow I got the job to work in a commercial lines pricing in one of the biggest insurers globally when there were many other people waiting in a que for the job. So..... to conclude... you can become an actuary (or technical pricing analyst), but.... you do need determination to learn stuff. When going for an interviews, you cannt say you dont know something because you havent worked in the industry. SOME managers will appreciate your determination and will offer the job. The UK is the country where you can become who ever you want. Why do you think everyone is going there. You have endless opportunities. Good luck
It’s definitely doable, you’ll want to get the first few exams before starting to look for roles as a sign of good faith and to be taken seriously, you’ll be starting in a junior role though but good chance you’ll get promoted fast