How did I deal with the awkward moments? That depends on how awkward my interlocutor would make those moments. There were people who literally just waited for me to finish talking, and even if my stutter caught them totally off guard and did not see it comming, they just didn't comment on it and just moved on. Then, all I did was moving on with them. (BTW, even kids are capable of being this polite, I know from experience). But there were also people who would cut me when I was still speaking or even straight up turn their back on me and leave alone talking! Or hang up the phone, or ask to talk with somebody else... when I was at jobs that required me speaking in my second language and I would stutter, people just assumed that I couldn't really speak the language, like I was a fraud and pretending to speak a language I couldn't speak just for the sake of keeping my job. Although English is my second language and I actually feel almost as comfortable in English as in my first language. I also did presentations of many sorts during my time at college, and of course I also had my moments of stuttering while presenting. Again, some people would just ignore it and get to the core of my message, rather than how I said it. But I have had my fair share of laughter at my face, people ignoring me and even straight up telling me that my presentation was bad because of my stutter(which, needless to say, is not much of constructive criticism). It's funny though, that a good chunck of the meanest comments I have ever gotten in my life (not only in a professional field, but in my entire life) came from people from the "social justice" sphere, for lack of a better word. Like people who were fighting against discrimination towards people of color, LGBT folks, fatphobia, etc. Like, for example, I literally had a friend who was a big girl and anytime she would hear a mean thing about her weight, she would make this HUGE drama, like she was the martyr of fat people... and then she would go on and laugh when I faced difficulty with my speech and stuttered. Another friend who is (to this day) a black activist, she would spend all day long talking against discrimation towards POC, and then she would be so rude and ignorant with me about my stutter. She even asked me once if I had a trauma from my childhood; she also said another time that people who stutter are loners or something like that... like, the whole thing of making generalisations for an entire group of people based on random things that you see or hear, that is bad when it comes to making generalisations about black people, but it is ok to do that when it comes to people with speech impediments? Like, if somebody sees a black person robbing once, or hears about a black person robbing once, and then they go on to say "black people are thieves", then they are racists (which, don't get me wrong, of course that's racist); but then when people see one person who stutters and has problems in social contexts, and they go on to say "stutteres are mentally messed up and they will die alone"... then that is somehow not conflictive and not discriminatory? And an activist -of all people!- feels comfortable enough to say all this shit and she expects no reaction, no backlash? (Needless to say, I am not friends with people like that any more). In that sense, I see my stutter as a blessing, in the sense that it helps you see the quality of humans that people truly are. I could sense that some people genuinly wanted me to feel comfortable while talking. I could sense also that for some people, all they cared was my message, and they didn't really cared whether I stuttered or not. If I spoke too unclearly, they would just say "I didn't understand", and I had no problem with that, because if they want to understand what I said and they ask for it in a neutral way, that is not offensive. And then there are shitty people who just don't deserve that you give them the time of day, and that is fine, too. At work it might be more difficult to put up with these situations, but I am telling you, I never got fired for stuttering, even when people assumed that my stutter was a sign of incompetence. And if you ever get the feeling that you might actually get fired over that, talk to HR. Not because they are the nicest people who want you to feel happy all the time; but because firing someone over an speech impediment is discrimination (they can call it however they want, but it IS discrimination) and you could actually sue the company. And HR's reason of existence is to avoid lawsuits! They should be more afraid of you than you of them. I'm telling you, kiddo, you just need to go through these experiences. Now I am living abroad having a full time job in my fifth language. I have to talk a lot, and I might stutter here and there, but that hasn't stopped me. I am prepared, competent, a team player, respectful with my colleagues and in the end that is what people really want from a worker. So just give your best and I am 100% positive that you'll do fine :)