<p>I’m still waiting to hear back from a federal job I got referred to. When the say the feds are slow, they are not joking.</p>
<p>Homer, </p>
<p>It can take 6 months to one year to get a top secret clearance, or a NSA/CIA top secret clearance.</p>
<p>^And you have to go through quite a grilling to get the clearance! DH was surprised at all the questions they asked him.</p>
<p>I keep thinking about my friend with a chemical engineering degree from Cooper Union. Couldn’t get a job out of college 25 years ago. After almost a year of searching, he was offered a job as…an actuary. Never looked back.</p>
<p>My family is kicking around this very question. Wife is an actuary (degrees in math and computer science), son wants to study engineering. Where it goes from there remains to be seen. Engineering career, actuary, maybe even Wall Street. I think the engineering degree keeps all options open.</p>
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<p>And if the agency is CIA, FBI or NSA, you will have to take a polygraph where they will ask you even more probing questions…just in case something slipped through the cracks during the clearance stages. Prepare to be violated.</p>
<p>actuarial is very difficult IMO.</p>
<p>Actually the job is not at all national security related. Just a typical paper pushing job.</p>
<p>I thought I would check in to this board since posting in September. </p>
<p>I’m happy I’ve been able to help some students with their decision about engineering vs actuary. </p>
<p>I’ve also noticed some weak arguments and some weak jabs at my advice. </p>
<p>If you haven’t read my initial post, then let me remind everyone that I actually worked in engineering for close to 15 years, in R&D an in management, so I am not talking out of my A… about the profession. Also, I have an MSEE and an MBA (ivy league), so again I know more than most about how far you can go in engineering with a great education. </p>
<p>I changed careers last year into the actuarial profession, mainly since I wanted to do something different and also get into a profession that has more career options. </p>
<p>After one year, I have 4 exams and I got close to $25K in raises. Honestly, I never saw an entry level engineer get such increase in pay after one year. </p>
<p>I know that I might be the exception (the actuarial exams are easier to anything I did in engineering school), but hey the opportunity is there. </p>
<p>In terms of job openings on job boards and listing statistics of how many students are taking/passing tests. What is the point, that there aren’t jobs or that there are too many candidates?</p>
<p>Getting a job has more to do with being aggressive and with networking. Do you think I was able to get my current job by just sending out a resume? No, I networked, and I asked for an informational interview, and I was prepared when the recruiting cycle opened up. They knew who I was before I even went in for the interview. </p>
<p>Look, I don’t want to tell anyone not to study engineering, I actually think it is an excellent educational background that gives students many options upon graduating. I enjoyed my engineering studies and would recommend engineering to anyone. </p>
<p>But, if you want to compare engineering to actuarial, sorry but actuarial is better on average. The keyword here is on average. Maybe you will be the exception.</p>
<p>Good luck everyone.</p>