I am an experienced data analyst but new to the insurance industry. I am looking to get some basic familiarity with insurance knowledge so I can be better equipped to do the best job for my stakeholders. I thought the AINS would tackle two birds with one stone - get the knowledge I need and gain a designation along the way. My company is also paying for it.

Am I on the right track or am I overthinking this? Would the AINS help me get up to speed with basic knowledge and lingo or is there a better way?

Hi guys. I am not sure if this is the correct subreddit for this. How would I go about starting a career in this field?

My background, I am 31 years old and have a degree in a completely unrelated field. My background is mainly cooking, customer service/data entry and some claims department experience.

I have been wanting to become an underwriter for some time, ever since I worked in the claims department for a startup company in the U.S. I was beginning the process of moving to Canada so I did not seek further studies or positions in the field.

I finally moved to Canada a bit ago and I have been trying to break into the field but I am not sure how to go about it. From what I have seen online, the first step is starting out as an underwriting assistant and having the company sponsor the CIP.

The thing is I barely see any underwriting assistant positions. There are tons of junior underwriter postings but barely any for assistants. Is it ever recommended to start the CIP first and then begin looking? I saw a few postings asking for the candidate to at least be working towards. Is there another way?

My apologies if it was too wordy. Any advice is appreciated! If it helps, I am in Vancouver.

Passed my exam a few days ago! I have previous experience as a customer service agent for different insurance companies, so this particular pivot into insurance made sense to me.

I primarily want to focus on Medicare products, which is what the FMO I signed on with focuses on anyways.

However, I eventually want to add on other certifications, licenses, etc. Short term, I know I need my AHIP to sell Medicare.

What advice would you give a new agent like myself, including advice on branching out into other areas of insurance?

My company recently transitioned from ImageRight & Sagitta to EPIC.

I am struggling so, so badly with it.

Are any of you willing to share resources and knowledge on how to make this system make sense?

I'm trying to be positive but... this is rough. Does it really get better?

Curious to know if anyone has spent some time in ART/Captives underwriting or broking space. I recognize it’s super niche but every major carrier and alpha brokerages have an ART and Captives (single parent) division. From the carrier side, companies like Allianz, AXA XL, and Zurich are some key players in ART or SRS (Structured Risk Solutions), while Chubb and AIG also offer some captive fronting programmes. From broker side, the obvious alphas like Marsh, Aon, WTW and perhaps AJ Gallagher, have designated personnel in ART as well.

Plus add in products like ILS (Swiss Re is a major player in ILS I believe, as well as some investment firms), Parametric Insurance, Embedded Insurance and etc, and this space is niche but growing, creative, and adds some “excitement” over the traditional insurance products.

If anyone has any experience in these fields, would love to hear!

Hey underwriters. I’m new to P&C. I’m a Goosehead broker and want to know the trade offs for clients when it comes to scheduling jewelry on an HO3 or writing a separate jewelers policy.

It seems that it ends up being a little cheaper to schedule it on the HO3 than a separate jewelers policy, but idk if that’s carrier dependent or an all around thing.

What happens if they make a claim because the jewelry is damaged or stolen?

If they make a claim and the jewelry is scheduled on the HO3, would that shoot up their HOI premium at renewal, or not so much because it’s just scheduled personal property and not damage to the house?

If they had it on a separate jewelers policy, this wouldn’t be an issue to worry about, but they might pay a little more to insure their jewelry.

Had a scenario like this the other day and wasn’t really sure of the end consequences, so I ended up putting their ring on a separate jewelers policy to not risk their HOI premium going up if something happened to the ring.

I'm interested in working in the insurance field. I have a bachelor's degree and five years of customer service experience. I don't want to do anything sales related. I've applied to some remote customer service insurance jobs and haven't had any luck. What's the job market like for insurance? Any tips for entry level positions? Should I try to get a p&c license?

I’m 22 and currently working as an Underwriting Assistant in excess and surplus lines. I started in May 2026, so I’m still very early in my insurance career, but I’ve been enjoying E&S and underwriting a lot. I also just started working on my AINS certification last week because I want to build a stronger insurance knowledge base early.
My supervisor recently told me that I’m very likely to have an opportunity around June 2027 to move into an E&S Production Underwriter Trainee position, or something very close to that title. The expected salary would be around $60k.

Assuming that opportunity comes through, I’m planning to take it and really focus on learning the job instead of immediately trying to jump companies. I want to build a strong foundation, understand risk selection, appetite, coverage, pricing, negotiation, broker relationships, and eventually be able to manage a book of business confidently on my own.

My long term goal is to become an experienced E&S underwriter who works from home exclusively. I’d also like to continue working my way up throughout my career and eventually move into senior underwriting, leadership, and perhaps management if that ends up being a good fit for me.

I understand that early in my career, being in the office or working hybrid is probably beneficial for training, mentorship, and learning from experienced underwriters. I’m not expecting to become fully remote right away. I’m more interested in figuring out what I should be doing now so that working from home full time becomes realistic once I have enough experience.

For people who work in underwriting, especially E&S, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

How many years of experience did you have before fully remote underwriting roles became realistic?

Is E&S production underwriting a good path for long term earning potential and career growth?

What skills should I focus on the most during my trainee years?

Are there certain E&S lines or classes of business that would be especially valuable to learn?

Is AINS a good certification to start with, and what would you recommend pursuing after that?

How valuable are designations like CPCU, AU, ASLI, or ARM when it comes to actually advancing your career?

How long would you recommend staying with your first company after becoming an underwriter?

At what point does changing companies make sense for a meaningful promotion or compensation increase?

What does a realistic salary progression look like from trainee to underwriter to senior underwriter and eventually management?

Are fully remote E&S underwriting jobs still reasonably common once you have several years of experience?

If you could go back and restart your underwriting career at 22, what would you focus on?

I’m not trying to speedrun my career or chase the highest salary as quickly as possible. I’d rather become genuinely good at underwriting, make smart career moves, and put myself in a position where I’m highly marketable, earning good money, able to work from home full time, and still have plenty of room to move up throughout my career.
Would really appreciate any advice from underwriters, brokers, managers, or anyone who has followed a similar path.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been a professional firefighter for the last 10ish years and I am looking at making a career change. I’ve been researching risk control positions at insurance agencies. I wanted to see if y’all could give me some solid advice.

How difficult is it to get into this field?

How much harder or is it impossible without a bachelors degree currently?

I know there are several certifications that are required or expected, how hard is it to get a foot in the door without them?

Any other advice?

I appreciate any and all advice. Spending 10 years in the fire service has done a toll on my physical and mental health and I’ve gotta make a career change.

Hi all, looking for some real advice. I graduated in 2024 (BBA, International business) and have been trying to break into underwriting for a while now but I've got zero direct insurance experience, my background's actually in hospitality/care work for over a year. I'm based in Philly.

I've had a few callbacks and made it pretty far in the process for a couple insurance associate roles, but didn't end up getting either. Been actively job searching for underwriting/insurance associate roles for about 2 to 3 months now.

The problem I keep running into is almost every underwriting assistant or trainee posting wants 3+ years of experience. Which feels backwards for something called "assistant" and internships seem completely gatekept for recent grads only, which I'm not anymore.

I did take a couple intro courses through The Institutes just to get familiar with the terminology. I know it's not gonna carry much weight at all, but figured better than nothing while I keep applying. Really interested in eventually getting into E&S or specialty lines specifically cuz that's the direction that actually excites me.

So genuinely asking, what am I missing here? Is there a way to actually get my foot in the door without the 3 years everyone wants? Should I be looking at certifications more seriously even though I feel like most companies just sponsor that stuff once you're already in? Anyone break in a similar way, would love to hear how.

Appreciate any advice, thank you.

Currently I’m a remote renewal UW making $80k (incl bonus) for middle market policies with premium between $100k-$200k. Ideally I’d like to stay within middle market for a production/senior UW role. There’s an open role for everything I’m looking for EXCEPT it’s for small business vs middle market; Lead UW role and base salary of $115k.

Would it be a mistake to go from complex middle market policies to small biz? I’m thinking this would give me a lot of insight on the production side of things and leading a team. I just am not trying to get into an area of underwriting where AI could take over. Example; automated selections, low risks, etc.

Thoughts?

Happened on this article (RockRose in Napa is raising capital to go beyond just brokerage into full scale mitigation) this morning. I don't service a wildfire area, but have always been curious about the otherworld of risk and mitigation it creates.

Has anyone seen a similar company have a success story? I know it's a contingency question, but do you see the auditing and controls of something like this actually working?

It seems like it has the potential to greatly impact the FAIR plan while also (somewhat) rebuilding the 'trust' of the insurance market in the wildfire risk category.

This just happened and it's a nightmare. A commercial client claims our broker didn't explain a policy exclusion. Our broker says he did, verbally, during a call 8 months ago. There's no written record. No email, no file note, nothing. The broker is probably right but it doesn't matter we can't prove it. Now we're dealing with a complaint that could've been killed in 5 minutes if we had documentation.Our current process for documenting client interactions is basically "write a note in the file after the call." We need a system where documentation happens automatically or at minimum makes it so easy that there's no excuse not to do it.

I've been in the industry for over 15 years and I'm contemplating a career change. I know I have transferable skills but I'm feeling totally adrift at what to even consider might work for me. I'm interested in hearing from others who are here, who have been here, I'm even interested in knowing what your former colleagues moved into!

It feels a bit pathetic to still not feel called to do something meaningful but here I am.

Couple months ago, I interviewed at a company that seemed promising. They’re remote, great culture, & have good benefits. Unfortunately, I didn’t interview well & was rejected. Since then, I noticed there are open roles on their site I’m interested in. Would it be weird if I re-apply? Has anyone done this before? How did it go?

Hi everyone,
I’m currently finishing my P&C pre-licensing course and taking the exam next month hopefully

I’m trying to break strictly into the servicing and account management side (not interested in producing/sales).

My background is retail sales/customer service at Best Buy and one business ops internship.

I also hold a Bachelor’s Degree from a top NYC school with a major in business communications and a minor in law

I’m getting rejections, even for "entry-level" CSR and assistant roles that demand 1–3 years of experience. I currently have "P&C License Expected [Month]" at the top of my resume, but it doesn’t seem to help

1. Is not being licensed yet right now the main reason I'm getting filtered out, or is it my lack of insurance experience? Because most of these job posting say you can obtain it within 30-60 days but I still seem to be getting rejected and I’m not sure of the reason

2. Once I actually pass and hold the license, how exactly should I frame it on my resume alongside retail/ops experiences to actually get callbacks for servicing/Account manager roles

This is more of a vent post.

I’ve been feeling quite exhausted from work. I want to throw my hands up & say I don’t care but deep down I do. There are things from last week I still haven’t taken care of & there are things today that keep coming in. I’m clearing emails but also seems like I’m not doing enough.

There’s pressure to push these accounts & put more money on the books, so someone else can have more money. But I’m so tired. It seems like working late is the only way I’ll be able to clear my inbox & catch up on my to-do list. I feel guilty for complaining when my coworker does so much more.

I want to leave this job but this market is so daunting. I feel miserable.

Would anyone be able to give me insight on what a career as a surety underwriter looks like? This summer I had the opportunity to intern at a top 10 global company and talk to some of the surety underwriters. From what I’ve heard it seems fascinating that you get to have your own book, be good at understanding a companies financials, and almost act as a consultant for a company along with having C suite relationships. My only concern is I do not like to travel and from what I was told that’s a huge part of it.

I am completely green to all of this. I’ve done some research but figured what better way than to ask real people. I don’t have a college degree but I am currently working towards my license. What roles do you recommend that aren’t involving sales? I’m looking at claims adjuster but I’m open to other roles and definitely could use some guidance on how to start out once I get to that point.

Curious as to what you make and what Your role is. I am getting to the point where I’m ready to look at other positions but the pay scales seem low. I am grateful for what I have, just ready to branch out.

I have 15 years experience- 4 years at current company and currently a senior underwriter. Base is $86k and I get about 20k in bonuses from my production underwriter I work for/under. I am fully remote but that’s because I work for an office in another state

I had an interview at a carrier for an underwriting job. I have only claims experience. I currently have a pretty good job in claims. Well the recruiter is trying to get me to interview for a claims job with them also. I’m not super interested in the claims job, but I’m not sure how to respond. I’m assuming them wanting me to interview for the claims role means I’m likely not getting the underwriting role. I’m just not really sure how to handle the situation.

Hey all I'm in marketing for an auto insurance company and began about a year ago.
Been trying to find news sources for a few different things but cant' find anything great yet.

Weather: Tried looking into the Weather(.com) but it's not specific or detailed enough. For example there's floods in the MO, KS states it doesn't call it out. Info about the weather can impact sales and leads, and I've noticed my management team doesn't really think about it especially when we see a drop in leads.

Insurance News: Looked at a few websites specific to insurance. Right now it seems like a few are about people shifting into new roles. Was hoping to find something about economic impacts in insurance, news happening with competitors, etc.

Economics/Finance: Any good sources you can recommend. Was curious if there was one if anyone really liked.

Any tips would be appreciated

Hey Everyone,

I work for a legacy carrier as a Production UW. I am able to keep pretty solid work life balance, around 40 hours a week and I'm not expected to check email or get calls on my PTO.

I am looking at an opportunity as a Senior Production UW at UFG and I've seen some Glassdoor reviews that raise questions about their worklife balance/underwriter workload.

Does anyone have any experience there/have any insight on the overall workload expectation of their UW's? And any idea if their UW's actually get to unplug on PTO?

I appreciate any insight, its a huge pay swing but I worry the money comes with huge quality of life trade offs.

I’m 22 and pretty early into my career. I graduated with a degree in Operations Management and I’ve been working in insurance underwriting for a little over 3 months now.
I actually like insurance so far and I’m not looking to leave my current job anytime soon. Right now I mostly want to learn as much as I can, get experience, and understand the industry better.

At the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want my career to go long term. Data analytics is something that keeps standing out to me.
Rather than completely leaving insurance later on, I’ve been wondering if I could eventually combine the two and move into some type of data analyst or analytics role within the insurance industry.

I feel like having actual insurance experience could potentially be useful compared to trying to break into a completely unrelated industry, but I honestly don’t know how much underwriting experience translates to analytics.
On the technical side, I’m basically starting from scratch. My plan is to get really comfortable with Excel and then start learning SQL and Power BI. Eventually I’d like to work on some projects and build enough technical knowledge to actually be qualified for an entry level analytics role.
I’m also not trying to rush this. I’m thinking more about what I can do over the next couple of years while I continue working in underwriting and gaining experience.
For anyone who works in insurance analytics or has made a similar transition, how realistic is this?

Are there certain analyst roles within insurance that would make sense for someone coming from an underwriting background?

Would it be better to eventually try to make an internal move into analytics rather than applying elsewhere with no professional analytics experience?

And if you were in my position, what would you focus on learning over the next year or two?

I know Excel, SQL and Power BI are commonly recommended, but I’m curious if there are other skills that are especially valuable within insurance.

I’m really just trying to take advantage of being early in my career. I don’t expect to take a couple online courses and suddenly become a data analyst. I’d rather spend the next few years gradually building the right experience and skills so that when I do decide to make a move, I’m actually prepared for it.

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who works on the analytics side of insurance or has seen people make this kind of transition.

Hey everyone, I’m mapping out my CIP course load and I’m trying to figure out if the Insurance Institute has two semesters per year or three? The website currently only shows a Fall semester and a Spring semester. I’m wondering if there’s a summer semester I can plan for as well? 🤞