I learnt and passed in a manual corsa, then had a automatic smart car and now a manual micra. The transition from my instructors corsa to my auto smart car was pretty seemless. You just get used to the automatic with no clutch very quickly. I had to learn to ease off the accelerator a bit if I wanted to shift, or else the car would keep revving till 4-5k RPM. You could keep the footdown to 60, and in my case the smart car would rev to redline (6k RPM) then shift. Not much jerkiness or jumpiness imo compared to shifting manually. However I had a automated manual transmission in the smart with no clutch but could activate manual mode with paddle shifters, instead of a torque converter or CVT box which I believe shift a bit more differently but similar concept I guess.
However when I sold my smart car and I opted for manual in the Micra instead of the auto CVT they offered but I wanted to relearn manual, it was one of the hardest experiences of my life. Honestly, once you go auto you'd need quite some time to relearn. Your mind and foot doesn't acknowledge the clutch pedal, resulting in jerky changes and very slow/rushed starts. Sometimes wheel spinning like a douchebag when you don't mean too by putting too much gas, sometimes stalling because you lifted the clutch way too early. But after a couple of weeks of daily driving, I got used to the manual. And boy its rewarding, you just don't get the same sense of control with an automatic.
If you're considering an automatic, I'd say test drive one first. To be honest, in my opinion its not worth the money going for automatic unless you have a medical reason or you're just lazy. I have no problems in start stop traffic and hill starts, its a form of muscle memory and you just adapt to driving manual like its second nature. Its good to be able to drive a manual, because its a lot cheaper sometimes. Also automatics generally are less fuel efficient and emit more pollution as a result, but this is changing with the newer auto boxes.