Welcome

After checking the website last night around midnight, this morning around 6AM, and then periodically throughout the day, I found out this afternoon that I passed the second actuarial exam :) I felt pretty good about it when I took it but it's nice to know that it wasn't a false sense of confidence. You can find my freshly updated resume over on the left-hand side of the page.

This is my first time getting an exam raise since I started doing actuarial work, and I wasn't sure what to expect because my employer doesn't have any written student guidelines—I think the last time someone passed an exam was in 2002. But, when I spoke to my boss today after the passing candidates were posted online, I was pleasantly surprised to find out what "We'll make it worth your while" really meant!

Only 10 more steps to my ASA. If I pass everything the first time I try, I should be done with my Associateship in late 2009 or early 2010. But since the pass rate on the exams is generally 35-40%, I'm not counting on that happening. The exams behind me are supposedly the easiest, and even though I've just started studying for the next one I can definitely see that being the case. I'll do my best and we'll see what happens.

—Jack

Labels: actuarial, employment, exams, resume

Welcome to my new homepage. This one was created with the help of BlueRobot's Layout Reservoir. The photography pages still need to be overhauled, but I'll work on that next week.

We've nearly settled in here in Philly, with only a few amenities lacking, such as the dining room chairs that we haven't gotten around to staining and putting together. We're going to be taking care of those on the 4th of July weekend. This weekend we're going down to Baltimore to help my sister move to a new apartment. Apparently it's just down the street from where she lives now, so they're not renting trucks or anything, just making a nice long ant line from one apartment to the other. They're putting us up for the night and taking us out to see her boyfriend's band, so that should be cool :)

Erica has gotten a job at Borders, as you may know if you've been reading her updates. I've gotten the cold shoulder from most companies up here, but I'm plugging along, working on better web authoring techniques since it's been about two years since I seriously pursed it and things have changed. Most companies, even the temp agencies, are looking for 3-5 years previous experience in the IT sector. A guy at one agency told me that about four thousand workers have been let go in the last year or so, and so I guess they are able to fill their ranks with the semi to uber experienced. One lady had the gall to tell me to call back in 3-5 years. I wanted to tell her I'd be working by then and wouldn't need her help, but I guess with the way things have gone recently that's not guaranteed either. So it goes...

In the meantime if you know of anyone who needs a little web help I'm open for some contract work. My skill level isn't quite where I'd like it to be, but that will be reflected in the cost of the work. Besides, if I can get a few things in my portfolio I can show those to the folks who want 3-5 years and see if I can get any of them to actually pay attention to me.

—Jack

Labels: 1st post, Baltimore, employment, family, home improvement, job hunting, Philly, retail, web design