I considered becoming an actuary after college (passed first two exams on first try) but decided to become a software engineer instead. You should expect to mak

I considered becoming an actuary after college (passed first two exams on first try) but decided to become a software engineer instead. You should expect to make six figures with a near guarantee of employment for your entire career. The job conditions are fairly standard for a white collar worker, but you won't have crazy working hours like a lawyer or a banker. If you could take the tests in parallel the process would be a lot quicker, but the tests are sequential (you typically need to take 7 to be fully certified) and are only offered every 3-6 months. I didn't think the first two exams were particularly difficult, but did prep for about a month for each beforehand. I would argue that time management was more important since you had only a few questions but were on a strict clock. So if you actually wanted to pass the test it was more important to find shortcut methods to get to the correct answer quickly.