Hot Jobs for 2012 and beyond - Actuarial Analyst

We often talk about data and how to convert the silos data into useful information using analytic solutions. In this tough economic environment, it is worth noting that some of the best jobs of today and beyond are related to data and statistics but they are least known to our growing army of new graduates. As a leader, we have a huge responsibility to get the information out and help new graduates or our unemployed citizens prepare for these opportunities.
Actuarial science is one such area which is not well known for good reason. First, it is not a mainstream undergrad and grad course in most of our universities. Second, the term actuarial itself is not commonly associated to the occupations that we are familiar with. However current studies by some career and job website showed that Actuarial is the area full of potential job opportunity with plenty of growth and high paying salary.
What is Actuarial science? - It is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk  in the insurance and finance industries(from wikipedia). The professionals qualified in this field are called Actuaries or Actuarial Analysts. The discipline consists of many discipline such as probability, statistics, finance, economics and computer programming.
Where is Actuarial science applied? - To pensions, healthcare, insurance (casualty, property insurance, liability and general insurance) Learn more of how Actuarial is applied to various forms of Insurance industry on wikipedia.
Who is hiring Actuaries? - All insurance companies hire them all the time. Look at some of the Actuarial Job postings on job board.
How do you prepare yourself for Actuarial jobs? - You got the basic idea what foundation skills are required  for this career. I am sure you want to know where could you get formal Bachelors and Graduate level education in Actuarial science.

• Actuarial science at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• Actuarial science program at University of Nebraska Lincoln
• Actuarial science at Michigan Central University
• Actuarial science major at Northwestern college Iowa
• Actuarial science program at University of Illinois  Urbana-Champaign
• and many more.. I will update the list later..

Are there any short term training programs available? - I already have degree in Mathematics and related fields, can I get a leap into this profession by some training and certifications? I am sure there are many training courses available, but you need to research this carefully. Actuarial Foundation website has a lots of useful information. You can start from here. Also look at the Actuary Certification Exam website, exam is tough, people who have majored in math routinely fail the preliminary exams a first time, but success rate is not bad.

What is the recent hiring trends?  - Some recent trends show that companies require MS/PhD in Statistics who can think out of the box. Some think that Actuarial education is too boxed. This opens more opportunities for Math and stats graduates. 

Hope this post helps our new graduates shaping up their new emerging career path. Questions/comments are appreciated. 

MS Software Engineering Project Ideas

Some of the grad students approached me during last couple of weeks about MS thesis or project ideas. Ideas keep coming 24x7, so I will list here, feel free to discuss or comment. 

Software Engineering Projects:

Mobile/web trends category:

• Price match alert app - A consumer web/mobile app that does low price match for a given item# and sends alert to subscribed email/SMS. Sounds simple? Well, the system has to match the item to the correctly classified category and run a web crawler against the web and other promotion data. Typically a retail store offers 30 days low price match or beat guarantee to the consumer on big ticket items such as appliances, large screen TVs or furniture. 
• Loan/Rent/Swap stuffs with your Facebook/Linkedin connections - Say, you have a lawn mower that you have no use now as you moved from single family house to a condo. The app will allow user to broadcast the offer to their connections and transaction will happen between trusted people. 
• Accommodation share with Linkedin connections - Business travelers can peer rent their house/apt to the fellow linkediners using this app. 

Business/Social problem area:

• Data visualization for solving foreclosure crisis - You need to understand the problem before you can jump on this. Why some pockets of bay area have no foreclosure? Is id demography? job market? good schools? or something else. Data visualization will help answer some of these questions and that will lead to some sort of solutions. 
• Data Visualization for solving unemployment / skills upgrade problems - same as above. In addition, algorithm to match existing job openings not to people's current qualifications but their potential. 

I will add more later. Good day !