Occupations often require a set of common characteristics and abilities in order for an individual to be successful (Super, 1990), and new professionals have to navigate much more than new offices, policies, tasks, and expectations to achieve that success. The authors sought to better understand the early career stage in the field of educational development, and this article reports on the findings of a subset of that research focused on the reported perceptions of what constitutes the early career stage by newer educational developers (EDs) in contrast with those who define themselves as experienced in the field. We collected participants' thoughts and perceptions about what constitutes early career for EDs using an online survey, and qualitative responses were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Aligning with Super's (1990) lifespan career development model, this exploratory research suggests there is no single, universal definition of what it means to be an early career professional in this field, and our findings suggest that self-concept is crucial in determinations of what it means to be an early career ED. Further, there is a distinction between being new to the field of educational development and being 'early career' in a broader sense; our findings suggest there is much more to feeling like an early career ED than the time spent in one's career. We discuss key themes that emerged around how participants constitute the notion of early career in educational development and offer some common vocabulary to identify and discuss experiences of early career professionals in the field. Our work may provide new opportunities for supporting onboarding and community building, and raises areas for further exploration.