What should I know before starting my first in-office web development job?

Congratulations! Be honest about what you know and what you don’t. It’s completely fine to say, “I’m not sure, but I’ll investigate and get back to you.” Also remember that being the only developer doesn’t mean you’re automatically responsible for every technical or IT problem in the company. Clarify your role and priorities early, and avoid volunteering for every possible issue just because you’re capable of solving it.

Expect more interruptions than you had while freelancing, especially if coworkers aren’t used to working with a developer. Try to protect focused work time, communicate when something will take longer than expected, and avoid getting pulled into every meeting or office disagreement. Stay professional and focus on solving the problems that are actually part of your job.

Set up good habits from day one: use version control consistently, keep backups, and document important decisions, deployment steps, server quirks, and anything unusual about the codebase. When you’re the only developer, those notes become incredibly valuable later, especially when you’re trying to remember why something was built a certain way.

Imposter syndrome is very common, particularly when starting a new role. Give yourself time to learn how the company works, ask questions, and take things one step at a time. Before making changes, understand the existing process and be extra careful around production systems—confirm what you’re changing, keep a rollback plan, and don’t make risky database or deployment changes casually.