> "I am a student in college majoring in mathematics and slowly passing
> actuarial exams. My question is with regards to computer languages
> (programming) - what languages would you advise to learn (take classes)
> in order to be more marketable with respect to actuarial profession -
> C++, Oracle. Please let me know what are the most common languages that
> employers desire their actuaries to know in general."
There are a few ways to answer this.
In terms of languages that would be useful -- the programming I do these
days is almost exclusively in VBA -- writing Excel macros, and working with
Access. I've found SAS to be useful in the past, and there have been times
that I wished I knew APL to any degree. Experience with SQL, DB2, etc.
would be useful as well.
Unfortunately, I suspect that most of those languages/systems are not taught
as college classes. (Has VB made it into curricula?)
More important is getting used to the logic of programming. The only
programming class I've ever taken was in Pascal -- something I've never used
on the job. However, learning the logic behind programming has been
extremely useful.
Also, since next week *is* exam week, and many students are wondering, "Why
am I doing this, again?" it's worth keeping alternatives in mind. Would
one or another language make the questioner more marketable in a
non-actuarial role, just in case he/she decides that actuarial work isn't
for him/her?
-- ___<*,*> Michael D. Adams / mda@triskele.com[`-'] W Hartford CT (41d46.037m N, 72d43.903m W)-"-"- http://www.rahul.net/starowl
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