I graduated college in 2006. I purposely chose to be a trader because it played to my strengths - good with numbers, very analytical, process information rapidly.....and most importantly, I was able to execute all of my orders electronically on the computer while not having to use the phone. I commuted 3 hours per day, and worked for free my first year to prove myself before I could get the trading firm to hire me. That’s how badly I knew I needed this job where I didn’t have to speak and could still earn a lot of money. I lost my trading job at the end of 2011, and I have been struggling ever since. I have been actively trying to find a job for the better part of 7 years. I knew this would be my reality if I wasn’t trading, and I did everything in my power to avoid being in this situation. I’ve applied to thousands of jobs in finance over the past 7 years. When someone reads my resume, I get offered a telephone interview about 90% of the time because I’m qualified on paper. After stuttering a lot during a telephone interview, I almost never get offered an in person interview. I’ve only gotten 3 in-person interviews in the last 5 years, out of the thousands of jobs I applied to, and the hundreds I had phone interviews for. It’s very depressing. A lot of my friends who are in finance come to me for advice on their projects or business ideas, and I’m able to help them, but I’m not able to help myself get hired anywhere because no HR department (in finance at least) wants to take the risk of having a stutterer conduct due diligence or negotiate on behalf of the firm and risk losing the deal. I did everything in my power to avoid being in this situation at 34 (I knew this was a possibility for my future from the time I was in high school, I was not naive about my stuttering preventing me from doing things peofessionally in the future). Thanks for reading, curious to hear everyone else’s stories