I have a speech impediment and currently a junior engineer.

Will this actually prevent me from getting promoted? :(

Maybe I should look into some speech therapy but not exactly sure how effective that is past a certain age.

My data point: I have a severe stutter. I might have been lucky (and also no two stutters are the same), but I don't think it has even mattered at work.

I don't know if you have a stutter as well, but I've had stuttering therapy again recently, it's not very age related. Happy to send you resources. Feel free to email me.

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bluefirebrand 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I hate to say it but it might negatively impact your career. I hope it doesn't, but it might

People in charge of promotions often have more than one choice for a given promotion and they will use any criteria they can to weigh for or against you

A speech impediment is more likely to weigh against you than for you, unfortunately

That's the sort of thing that anti discrimination laws and guidelines are supposed to remedy but I suspect they mostly don't actually fix

Personally, if speech therapy is an option I think I would try it? It can't hurt you any

I'm going deaf, and looking into fixes for that. I don't think you should be ashamed of your speech impediment, but I also don't think you should be ashamed for looking into help fixing your impediment either

	▲	Nevermark 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		This is good advice. Their is also an effect that I have seen many times and experienced myself. Where it’s evident that someone has an idiosyncratic challenge, but you can tell they have put effort into overcoming or mitigating it. And they just work through it, not letting it get in their way. It demonstrates life competence, and is a real positive. Whatever you do, whatever you can do, don’t let “it” get in your way.
	▲	RugnirViking 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Absolutely, this. I see this all the time with colleagues that don't speak English too well (I'm not in an English speaking country, but development offices often use English) I'm not talking about people who can't express themselves or can't understand, merely that they haven't mastered it - use clumsy wording, or have a thick accent. These are often some of the most technically capable and talented people I've worked with, but also typically are not perceived as such by others, and im ashamed to say, working together with them would often result on the credit being placed unduly on myself.

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thrawa8387336 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Nah, just own it. I know the rising star in a FANG team of 40 can barely speak one sentence without breaking into a stutter.

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bionsystem 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No, I got multiple cases of managers with speech impediment, I also saw a blind tech lead and a deaf one (who also happened to have a small speech impediment).

I also saw a bunch of C-levels being total sociopaths but that's another story :)

	▲	stavros 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		I've worked with multiple blind coworkers and they were all amazing. They weren't amazing because they were blind, but they sure didn't let it slow them down.

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therobots927 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Joe Biden was president of the US. There's your answer.

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makeTheDay 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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