An office legend: 30 years Anniversary at work

Someone at work has been working for the company for 30 years. And today was the anniversary and we had a mini-celebration this afternoon. While we were eating cookies and sipping the milkshake, my co-worker was sharing how it was like when she started working 30 years ago. It's interesting to hear stories like people used to smoke in their offices, how they made a carbon copy and how gigantic the computer was back then.

There were a few questions in my mind. Can you imagine yourself working for the same company for 30 years nowadays? 30 years, it's almost like a lifetime to me. (In fact, it's longer than my lifetime as of today. ;)) And even you want to work for the same company for 30 years, do you think your company still exists 30 years later? Who knows, 30 years from now, the notion of working for a company for someone's entire career will become an urban legend?

And here's a more personal one- do I want to have a 30 years actuarial career?

A lot of websites mentioned this fact, "experts say that the average person can expect to change careers (not just jobs) 3 to 5 times in their working life." How valid is this? (I couldn't find out who the experts were and where they published this studies.)

I think working for a company for 30 years may not be a bad thing if the company has a well-funded pension plan. So for sure, part of your retirement fund is being taken care of. Also, it doesn't mean you have to do the same kind of work for 30 years neither.

If I start out as an actuarial analyst, 30 years from now, maybe I'll become the CFO, or the chief actuary of the company? (That's an optimistic guess and I'm thinking too far ahead;))