Software Skills and the Actuarial Profession

Stephanie Slowinski

Software and programming skills are becoming more important to actuarial employers. You may be wondering what, specifically, employers look for. To answer this question, I called in the experts from DW Simpson. Established in 1989, DW Simpson Global Actuarial Recruitment is the largest firm dedicated to Actuarial Search.

What type of programming and software experience do actuarial employers look for? Do the software skills that employers seek vary greatly between life, health, pension, and P&C employers?

Spreadsheet and database skills are generally at the top of the list.

For life employers, we also see financial software such as Prophet, MoSes, VIP, MG–ALFA or AXIS (and others) requested frequently. On the pension side, ProVal or other valuation software. On the P&C side, we see clients requesting @Risk, catastrophe modeling software expertise or dynamic financial modeling experience.

Clients in many actuarial disciplines (especially health and property/casualty) ask for SQL, C++, VBA, R or SAS programming skills as well.

Claude Penland, DW Simpson Partner, Webmaster, and Director of Internet Strategy

How important are software and programming skills to employers? Has the importance of programming knowledge for actuarial hires increased or decreased in recent years?

These skills are more important than they were even five years ago. Few employers are asking their actuaries to be hardcore programmers, though. Rather, because of the increased computing power and ability to slice and dice data using advanced data mining and predictive modeling techniques (such as for regional personal auto ratemaking), employers from a competitive standpoint need to ask their actuaries to have stronger quantitative programming skills.

Claude Penland

Are there any noticeable trends in actuarial employment?

Yes...one glaring one: actuaries continue to be high in demand across all disciplines, including pension. Insurance companies, consulting firms, brokerages, et.al continue to find new and interesting ways in which actuaries can add value. One example is the push for actuaries to take the lead on enterprise risk management issues, particularly within the life and property & casualty areas.

Bob Morand, DW Simpson Partner