<p>I am in a total dispair.. I am a junior at Purdue and taking C Programming class this semester. Nothing works for me, programming feels like such a mess of problems I cannot resolve or even find what causes problems. I absolutely hate my major, especially given the way they teach it by just throwing projects without much learning prior to them. I love the opportunities, flexibility, it seems like an interesting and creative profession, but when I do it, nothing works, and it frustrates me so much...</p>
<p>However, even though I am not good at logic, I am very good at math (maybe a contradiction, but even in high school I failed programming, while being one of the best at math/calculus; what's my problem, you think?). Recently I found out about what actuarial science is.
I would like to work in a big city (Chicago, San Francisco, New York) (just a wish)
How does actuarial science compare to software engineering? Has anyone done both? Is it more about math than logic (like programming)? And what do you think causes me to struggles so much in programming, while being very good at math?</p>
<p>Interestingly, mathematics is the foundation of computer science. Logical aptitude is essential in mathematics, so my view is that either you are having syntactic difficulty, which will fade as you do more programming, or are simply feeling overwhelmed, resulting in a positive feedback cycle. Alternatively, your high school math courses may have emphasized memorization (mine certainly did, even in calculus BC): have you completed any courses in math at Purdue like linear algebra? If you have completed college math courses without difficulty, it may be that your problems arise from encountering math/logic in a new form, rather than any fundamental deficiency. You will be accustomed to thinking algorithmically over time.</p>
<p>I have not completed dedicated actuarial science courses (e.g., risk analysis), though I have completed a number of statistics courses and passed the first two actuarial exams (no intent to become an actuary). Math and logic do not go away in actuarial science. Trying to memorize statistical calculus will not work. Further, programming frequently arises in statistics, albeit in simple languages like SAS and R.</p>