This descriptive phenomenological study sought to achieve two goals: to deeply understand early career teachers' (ECTs) past and present experiences and how these might impact ECTs' intentions and purposes for participation in an online community, as well as to inform the development of a new online community for ECTs. Five early career elementary teachers in various stages of their first year of teaching participated in an online community called the New Teacher Collab (NTC) and were interviewed to explore their past and current teaching experiences, as well as their intentions and purposes for and participation in the community space. The findings demonstrate that ECTs participated in the online community for five primary purposes: independently gain information, make connections to hear new perspectives, utilize other expertise, reflect over practice, and compare their practice. These purposes for participation in the online community were informed by their feelings of preparedness leaving their teacher education programs, current support, and confidence. We share implications for teacher education, induction, and online community development.