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Actuaries?
Any actuaries out there? I’m interested in the career. I know about the schooling and preparation required to take the exams, but want to know what the job itself is like for you personally (I get the broad scope, I’m more interested in the specific types of jobs available and what they are like).
Thanks to anyone who shares any knowledge/experience!
Career and Purpose
Recently, I’ve found myself struggling with purpose. Actually, not so much just recently, but it seems my whole college career has been plagued by this uncertainty. What do I want to do? How am I going to make money? How do I balance the need for self-fulfillment with the need to make a living?
Here’s where I have been so far: I graduated high school with a picture-perfect GPA, and decided to attend Kent State University with the hopes that by starting school and entering an “exploratory” program, I would be able to figure out what I wanted to do. It seemed simple, but it turned out that nobody else could tell me what to do.
I don’t remember my exact thought processes from when I decided to major in actuarial mathematics, but they were something along the lines of “I’m good at math, I am an intrinsic, analytical thinker, and this career will make me some cash.” For a while, this choice of path seemed like it would be enough for me. I got through three semesters with fantastic grades, but wondered about my life after college.
The thought, “what could I do to find the most happiness in my life?” was triggered by several things, one being a roommate who was also struggling with the same thoughts. I overheard a phone conversation he was having with his sister, and as he posed questions like “why am I doing this when I don’t enjoy it and it will take up the majority of my days?”, I found myself trying to answer them. The next morning, I got up for a general music understanding elective. I noticed how enthusiastic my teacher was (and always had been) about the subjects she would teach. Her gestures would widen and her eyes would light up with joy and excitement as she explained the cultures behind music created around the world. The subject itself did not interest me much, but the way that she taught had such an impact on me that I wondered, “What could I do that would fill me with SO much excitement that it would affect others as she has affected me?”. This thought came to me during my next class, macroeconomics, in the middle of which I thought “why am I here?” and left before she even began to teach.
These three timely events made me realize how much I loved music, and how audio engineering would be the perfect blend for my love of music and analytical mind. I could see myself recording and mixing the music I loved in a studio somewhere, and I believed I had found my career. I enrolled at Kent State Stark branch for music technology, and have spent the last two semesters in classes dealing with musical performance, music theory, and music technology. The classes have been great, as music really interests me, and I assumed that if I worked hard, my dream job would eventually be found.
Then I began to think again: Is this the path I want to go down? Working so hard to build a name for myself that I lose sight of the importance of family and friends? Working so hard that I lose sight of the love for music that got me involved in the first place? Am I really willing to relocate somewhere not of my choice to find a job, one that’s not likely to pay well or have benefits?
I had previously talked with three people I knew who were involved in music one way or another about audio engineering. A friend’s uncle who has been a live sound engineer and had worked up to becoming a product manager for a music equipment company had advised me to get my degree in something else. An engineer with whom my band had recorded an album told me not to go to school for a bachelor’s degree in audio engineering. A local music enthusiast, show promoter, musician, and podcast host asked me what my backup plan was if audio engineering didn’t work out. On top of this, I had all kinds of friends, family, and acquaintances who were not exactly as sure as I was of my decision.
Needless to say, doubt began to settle in. The only thought that kept me going was that this was my dream job. Then I realized that maybe it wasn’t. My dream job would involve making decent money recording and mixing music I loved. Two issues there: audio engineers do not make buku bucks unless they are churning out pop radio hits. And do I enjoy pop radio hits? No. Not at all. So I would either do what I love and have to worry about insurance, relocation, supporting my family, and basically just making enough money to live comfortably, or hate myself for selling out to mainstream music. And neither of those appeal to me.
So now, I find myself back to where I started, but with a little more experience under my belt. I now know that music is not the career path I’d like to follow, but rather a hobby and lifestyle that I would love to keep for the rest of my life. So process of elimination should help me out a bit. However, I’m still searching for that job that will give me a perfect sense of balance, something I enjoy doing and feel good about doing, something that pays well and allows me the freedom to go wherever I decide, something that allows me to continue playing music and maybe even build my own home studio for weekend sessions. The more I think about careers, the more I realize that I do not have just one goal in life, but rather, many goals that need to be balanced to achieve happiness. I want to enjoy my career. I want to make money for a variety of reasons; to support a family, to support my parents if need be, to support my musical endeavors, to live in a decent neighborhood. I want the freedom to be able to live in a big city or a suburb (because I don’t know where I’d like to end up). I want decent hours so I have the time and energy to spend with the people I care about and the things I care about.
Therefore, to pursue what I THINK I’d love in exchange for everything else on my list does’t make sense for me or anybody in this position. Especially when I know that once I start a family, the most important thing will be their well-being and happiness. That’s looking pretty far ahead, but at the same time, it’s not to soon to begin thinking about when it’s so important to me. People always say to follow your dreams, but I’m not going to sacrifice the rest of my realistic desires for them. Especially if that dream may not be as perfect as I once thought. I want several things, and if I can’t have them all, then my mathematical brain is going to find out how to maximize the benefits.
Blogging
After reading "Reflection on Blogging" from Hannah's Blog, I realized that I followed a pretty similar path when it comes to my progression in blogging. I began the blogging process looking at it as a school assignment. School assignments (for the most part) are supposed to be formally written, so following this mold, my first blog post was a lengthy, formal, and boring post about my intention for future posts. Previous schooling taught me that formality and length are often key to a successful assignment, yet I missed that the blogs are a different form of assignment. They were not meant to fit a mold, but rather for us to simply improve our creative writing through the semester through a medium of writing that becomes more prominent as technology advances. Rather than possessing an organized structure and formal tone, blogs should feel more loosely connected and give off a less formal impression, with the writer listing ideas in a more "stream of conscious" manner. I feel that as the semester moved along, I started to accept these ideas more, yet still have some trouble totally replacing my former habits with them (even in this post I feel myself tending to approach the more formal side of writing). Hopefully, my progress is clear through my blog posts. However, I still realize that I have more progress to make in my creative writing ability, as it has always been my downfall. I think that this assignment has had an impact on my approach to thinking about creative assignments, and I am still in the beginning phases of altering my writing to shape this new mindset. I am excited to see how the blogging assignment has affected me through future writing assignments.
Curation Reflection
After receiving feedback on my curation of text communication literacy, I began to think about the nature of this project and of other assignments that we've had this semester. The assignment (in and out of class) were what made this colloquium so unique compared to any other course I have ever enrolled in. Everything we have done has been to deepen our depth of knowledge about some topic. One of these topics, and the most stressed, has been the idea of literacy and how the internet has changed our approach to literacy.
The first major assignment asked us to examine our first experience with some form of technological literacy. This got us thinking about how much the recent technological boom has influenced us, especially considering we grew up as computers did. The assignment was unique in offering us the chance to write informally for a change. It broadened our creativity while opening us up to the idea that we would examine for the rest of the semester. P2 took the shape of a research paper, which was a course requirement. However, even though the format was not unique, I think that the "fill in the blank" prompt was. It gave us the freedom to choose any topic within scope, yet kept us sticking to the topic of how the internet is changing the world. This third assignment took the most creativity as it asked us to write in a format that most of us have never experience before. The assignment was to examine some new form of literacy and curate a set of pages dealing with its importance to the modern world. I enjoyed tinkering around with the new format, and learned a lot about text communication literacy while researching.
The most significant aspect of this course has been the sense of adventure and creativity that assignments have required. Even in class, our discussions flow from topic to topic, and I think everybody benefits from being able to freely discuss a topic, rather than be told about a topic by one person. The discussion introduces a cooperative form of education that I really enjoy. I am extremely happy with my experience in this course so far, and I am excited to continue on to next semester.
One of my classmates created this post about 3D printing, and I was immediately intrigued. I had heard of this idea before, a few months ago, but hadn't thought about it since. After hearing about it this second time, I became curious as to how 3D printing is even possible, and what types of products they are able to make. Here is an interesting video that I found, demonstrating the power of 3D printers and their usefulness.
Crazy, right? How do they do it? I still find it extremely difficult to imagine how one of these actually works, but here is a video explaining the process. The possibilities offered by 3D printing seem endless. They may even reach the point of being able to produce food! Before that, though, it is likely that 3D printers will revolutionize the shopping industry through items like clothes and apparel. I am excited to see where technology brings us within the next few decades as 3D printers become more practical and common.
Honors Colloqium So Far
While writing my cover letter, I realized just how much knowledge I have gained in such a short period of time. Before this semester, I viewed literacy simply as the ability to read and write. I had no clue that the term literacy could encompass so many different forms. We have learned about technological literacy, critical literacy, and through P3, how basically any skill can be considered a form of literacy. I would have previously thought of the ability to navigate a computer as a simple skill. However, I now view it as so much more. Computer literacy opens a person up to so much that they wouldn't otherwise have access to: P3 really exposed me to this idea, as the ability to navigate Wordpress allowed me to curate and summarize information I had found of text communication into an easy-to-navigate set of pages filled with text, pictures, and videos to support the topic. What I once viewed as a simple skill, computer navigation is a form of literacy because it can be learned not just for the sake of learning how to use a computer, but to gain access to so much more.
To me this defines a form of literacy: A skillset that can be learned to open a person up to more opportunities. For the third major assignment, I chose to investigate text communication and its importance as a form of literacy. However, I first had to consider, "Is this a form of literacy?". I thought about how often we send messages through the medium of text every day (email, text messages, and social media posts namely), and how what we put out can influence us. The wrong message could ruin opportunities, while the right one could create them. Therefore, the ability to send messages effectively and with the intended tone is a form of literacy. In order to improve upon your text communication literacy, check out my curated page on text communication literacy, which will help you make the most of the messages you send.
Old Stuff: Slow Jams
I went back and looked at the article "How To Make Your Own Slow Jams" on the course webpage, and realized that I have used the program they mention before. It is called Audacity, and it is a very basic program that can be used to record new audio or edit existing audio. I used it when I first became interested in recording, and recorded a few songs with my sister, friend and girlfriend. When I realized you could add mp3 files and sloe them down, change pitch, and perform several other alterations to the sound, I became interested in not only slowing down songs, but combining songs to create mashups and remixes. One of my inspirations was Shadium Arcadium, a mashup combing songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eminem, and one of my favorite rap/rock albums. I tried to do something similar, but it didn't turn out so good. Researching this for my curation page would have been very fun and beneficial to me, and would have been a great idea. Anybody interested in doing this kind of thing, I would definitely recommend checking out Audacity, as well as these videos on how to download and use Audacity.
The past few weeks, I have been investigating the importance of text communication as a form of literacy. Today, communication simply through text is more common than it ever has been. Of course, nobody writes letters anymore, but just about everybody sends text messages and emails. This CBS article reveals that the average teenager sends approximately sixty text messages every day. If we are communicating this much through text messages, shouldn't it be important that we learn how to do it properly? I often have trouble getting my message across through text messages: Without any voice inflection or body language to get my point across, I have difficulty sending the right message. Therefore, the tricks necessary to send effective text messages are important to consider. The same issues can be seen when communicating through email, and not only in social situations, but in relationships and professional dealings.
When I first had the idea to look further into this idea of text communication as a form of literacy, I was skeptical. I have never heard of this being considered a form of literacy, but after analyzing my own shortcomings and researching how to fix them on the internet, I realized that I chose the right topic, curating information that I find useful and that I think many others will as well. Text Communication Literacy is an important skill to learn in the modern world of communication, and this curation pulls together important information vital to mastering it.
Rat Thing and WildCat
Snow Crash introduces in chapter 12 a frightening creature described as the "Rat Thing." It is described as looking similar to a German Shepherd, but with a tail similar to that of a rat. It's description reminded me to the mechanical hound found in Fahrenheit 451, a similarly frightening robotic animal. Both are surrounded by mystery, and nobody will approach them because they are rumored to possess biological qualities that allow it to think for itself or act instinctively. Any mechanic device with potential to harm somebody is no good news, but add lifelike characteristics to it, and I find it much more scary. There is something about robotic replicas of living things that freaks me out, and watching this video introducing the wildcat (a frighteningly similar prelude to the Mechanical Hound or the Rat Thing) made me shiver. What is its purpose? If my job was to engineer something this awesome, I would be ecstatic at the result, but it's not: I can't help but look at something like this and wonder what it would be like in the future if, once fully operational and put to use, the WildCat malfunctioned and went haywire (iRobot much?). Of course, this is not something we will witness in our lifetime. At least, I hope not. It is just weird to think that this is the beginning of Ray Bradburry and Neal Stephenson's predictions coming true, and I wonder where this technology will be 100 years from now.
The Internet is...?
Shorter attention span vs. broader focus. Laziness vs. resourcefulness. Lack of sociability vs. constant interaction. These are all sides taken in the debate on the internet's effects on people. Each argument seems to offer two possible answers, one proclaiming the internet to be great and the other highlighting its faults.
However, nothing is so clear-cut when it comes to the internet, or with anything for that matter. I believe that with any case in life, there is "good and bad," even if those good or bad aspects are so minute that they amount to almost nothing when proportioned with their counterpart. Any kind of intolerable suffering is a terrible event. My great-grandfather suffered through weeks on pneumonia before passing away, and seeing him struggle to breath for so long was awful. On the other hand, he had been suffering for so long, and it was best that he finally passed on. The internet creates a considerable amount of benefits and detriments for people to deal with, and although one list may outweigh the other, there is no logical reasoning behind generalizing that the internet is totally good or complete nonsense. I had a teacher who said that the internet is garbage: "You learn things out of books, not a screen." Okay. You think that books are more resourceful for learning, but what about using online forums or GoodReads to find recommendations for new books? Or what if you read something that doesn't make sense, and the book you're reading only explains it one way? I come across this issue too often when doing my calculus homework, and often search for YouTube videos text that explains the concept I'm missing.
You may not think that the internet is good for some things. There's no denying that sometimes, using a computer is not the optimal method for performing a task. However, there's also no denying that in other cases (most, in my opinion), it is! Generalizing about anything is dangerous if your generalization is based solely on personal preference, so prepare for some disagreement if you think a generalization is 100% true no matter what. I enjoyed reading this article relating this idea to life in general. "Life Isn’t Good or Bad; It Just Is." How true.
Tortuga, from the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in NYC (BuzzFeed)
Hahahaha for any Breaking Bad fans.
Last night, a panic swept through kent state about two shooters on campus. This rumor spread through social media before it was debunked by police reports. This photo shows the formal news report sent by Kent State and some of the rumors on twitter, through which I heard of the news. Anybody who was on alert last night was because of social media: an overreaction to an unarmed robbery resulted in a deserted campus, empty lounges and locked doors. If not for social media, this panic would never have occurred. The internet allows for fast travel of news, too fast for it to be validated. However, had there been two gunmen, social media may have saved students' lives (literally, there was NO ONE outside). News spread by social media may not always be true, but better safe than sorry, and luckily, there was no reason to be sorry last night.
The Benefits to Media in Learning
I have always thought that certain media, especially music, helped me to study, not just by removing the boredom and allowing me to get through work without going crazy, but by actually helping me learn the concepts. However, I usually just shrug off this notion. I have been told by so many people that it is easiest to concentrate without distractions and that studying is only effective when done in a quiet room where you can focus solely on your work. I thought that I was probably just tricking myself into thinking that music helped me learn because I love it so much, similar to how I will fool myself into thinking that a burger is healthy because hey, there's vegetables and protein, right? However, after reading Cathy Davidson's unique approach on learning in Now You See It, I am reconsidering this idea.
One idea that Davidson brought up was the importance of breaking up study sessions, both by taking breaks and switching study locations. As pointless as this may sound, it really works! I always find myself stuck on a test, and then by recalling where I was or what I was doing when I learned the information, I can recall the info much more easily. I'll think, "Oh yeah, I remember looking that up while I was in the library" or, "I read that right after I worked out at the rec!". I remember thinking in this way since I was little, but have never given much thought to using it to my advantage by purposefully studying different subjects in different places. Similarly, listening to different music when studying different subjects helps! Especially if I listen to familiar songs: without realizing it, I'll replace the lyrics with what I am studying. Then, when I go back to recall that information, I immediately recall the song. Most people are familiar with mnemonics, or any study technique that aides the learning process. One of the most popular forms of mnemonics is using the first letter of each word to be memorized in a new sentence, allowing you to recall that sentence and then the information more easily than just the information. Listening to music while studying and also changing study locations could both be considered mnemonic devices. They work for me, and although some people may study best simply by locking themselves in one spot and going to town, it is all a matter of your own preference, and to generalize that any distractions harm one's ability to study is simply not correct. The other day, I tested my own preferences by walking down to read at the hub. To my own surprise, I found that the constant noise actually allowed me to concentrate better than if I were in my own room! The chatter around me was less distracting than my own thoughts, and actually kept me from daydreaming too much. My advice to anyone trying to study more effectively would be to give anything a try, despite generalized beliefs. You might learn something about yourself that makes studying a whole lot easier.
SSTLS Reaction
I actually enjoyed SSTLS a lot more than I thought I would. Based on the title, I thought that the story would follow a plot similar to a Nicholas Sparks Book. Not that I'm judging Nicholas Sparks books, because I've never read one, but I know they are not for me. Surprisingly, as opposed to what the title may lead you to believe, the novel was not overly sappy, nor was it really a story whose primary focus was love. It was primarily about the future of the U.S. and the world as a whole, and how those circumstances would influence us if we were a part of them. I viewed Lenny (as most people did) as an outsider to this futuristic society, as if he were somebody of this generation, dropped into the future. The author never really explained why Lenny was so backward, so out of place for his time, but I don't think he needed to. The importance was that Lenny represents how we would handle suddenly finding ourselves in this new world. I think that anybody who grew up to this point and lived through the small and major progressions along the way, a person who watched the path to this develop, would adjust perfectly fine and not feel out of place in this society. This is where the reality of Lenny as a real-life character conflicts with me and probably most readers, because a forty year-old who had lived through all of the happenings leading up to the apparat and one-hundred trillion dollars in U.S. debt and loss of personal connection would not be so suddenly frightened by all of these developments. If you were to watch season one, episode one of Breaking Bad (I love that show, so don't judge me for referencing it all of the time) and skip all the way to the final season, you would think "how is this possible? How did somebody so good fall apart?". "How is this possible? How did something so good fall apart" is Lenny's conflict throughout the novel. Watching Walter White develop from chemistry teacher to drug lord does not feel like much when following each progression without skipping around, and had we been dropped into Lenny's world from this moment right now (which is kind of the pilot episode to this series of technological and human advancement or decay, depending on your opinion: So much more is to come), we'd be baffled.
Therefore, Lenny's depiction as a totally confused adult unfit for the world around him was not meant to be realistic, because there is NO way that he would become so surprised out of nowhere if he had existed for forty years. Shteyngart created Lenny as a device to allow us a vicarious experience of the future world if we were to be dropped into it at this moment, and I enjoyed experiencing it from his point of view.
I think that it is very cool how all of our assignments are tying into one another as the semester progresses. Net Smart and Now You See it deal with technology and our ability to multitask vs. the importance of being locked in on one thing; Super Sad True Love Story expands upon these ideas through a hypothetical (but very possible) future where nearly complete focus is put into technology, and meanwhile, we are prewriting for a paper dealing with how the internet has changed the world.
Today in class, we discussed how the two books we are reading contain similar ideas, but take opposite viewpoints. Now You See It focuses on the importance of multitasking and how essential it is to 21st century success. Net Smart looks at how overwhelming the internet can be, and how to focus so that we can obtain what is valuable. From these two standpoints, one can conclude that when it comes to performing daily tasks in general, multitasking is key to operating effectively and efficiently. However, when performing tasks on the internet, it is important to focus on the important tasks without becoming distracted by social media and other distractions. The importance in both cases is to tune out unimportant information: when you are trying to talk one the phone and cook dinner at the same time, it Is vital to tune out the television playing in the background in order to effectively accomplish both tasks. If not, your attention focuses solely on the television, and nothing is accomplished. Similarly, while writing a paper and listening to music, you have to resist the urge to watch YouTube videos. It is impossible to watch a video and write a paper simultaneously. Multitasking can be good or bad depending on how you choose to multitask. At times, multitasking increases productivity: It is possible to listen to music while studying, and in some cases, the music may even benefit your study session. In another case, it is impossible to watch TV, listen to music, and write a paper simultaneously, and trying to do so, you will gain close to nothing from each experience.
Two chapters in to Super Sad True Love Story, I am disturbed by the overall feel of the book. The extreme dependence on technology and lack of personal contact between characters leaves me feeling isolated myself. The author has done a great job of implementing this mood through the impersonal interactions seen between characters, driven by a complete absorbance in the device known as the apparat. This device seems so similar to modern smartphones that it is scary: We are so close to being able to do anything on our phones, and SSTLS predicts the result: We lose any desire to interact with the world firsthand, where failure exists. When we communicate through devices, we are not holding true interaction, and therefore, the results do not really affect us as much as they would if the same interaction took place in the real world. You get into a texting argument with a friend and call him/her the worst: The next day, you text them to see if they want to see a movie. You call somebody a bad friend to their face, and the direct hit of that message has a much more profound effect. Technology allows us to turn away from reality. When soldiers board the plane and harass foreign passengers in the novel, Americans turn a blind eye as they focus on their apparati. It is nerve-racking to imagine such a situation, where people can completely ignore the injustices occurring right in front of them by burying themselves in a screen.
These ideas provide great first thoughts when considering topics for our next paper. It is great how all of these assignments bleed into one another, and it instead feels like we are building on one project. The topic of this course is the effects that technology has on society, and I feel like these assignments stack the effects higher and higher as we discover how technology does influence us.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the awareness of a person of what they are doing while they are doing it. A mindful person constantly understands the good and bad, the productive and destructive results of what they are doing. To not be mindful is to just act without regard for how you are influencing yourself or others around you. Similarly, on the internet, not being mindful would mean simply clicking and watching/reading anything that pops up without realizing its value/detriment to you. Not being a mindful person while on the internet is a lack of awareness of how much time you are wasting while you could be performing some productive task. This lack of mindfulness while surfing the web presents the biggest conflict that people have when it comes to computers, and by learning how to become a mindful internet browser, one can conquer the internet and its true potential in knowledge while minimizing its detriments.
