After years of freelancing in eCommerce and backend development, this summer I made a significant career shift: I joined Onapsis as a Software Engineer III – Python. Recently, I passed the three-month probation period.

This milestone may look small from the outside, but for me it came with important lessons about transition, culture and growth.

From Freelancer to Product Development

For more than a decade, I worked as a freelancer and consultant, mostly on Magento projects. That world was fast, client-driven and often chaotic: tight deadlines, late payments and “just make it work” expectations.

Moving to Onapsis meant switching gears. Here, the focus is on long-term product development with larger teams, established processes and distributed systems. The difference is like night and day: less improvisation, more alignment, but also new challenges.

Lessons From the First 3 Months

  1. Adapting to a New Culture
    Coming from freelance, I was used to making all the decisions. In a bigger company, collaboration means that sometimes you need to slow down and align with the team before moving forward.

  2. Tools vs. Team Norms
    I love using debuggers and modern tooling to dig into problems. In large teams, not everyone works the same way and I had to learn when to adapt and when to explain why a certain tool can make everyone’s life easier.

  3. Frontend and Backend Lines Blur
    Although I joined as a backend engineer, I also touched some React code. It wasn’t easy, but it reminded me that growth often comes from stepping outside your comfort zone.

  4. The Human Side Matters
    Technical skill is essential, but so is how you show up in dailies, how you communicate and how you deal with misunderstandings. This was a humbling reminder for me.

Looking Ahead

Passing probation is not the end, it’s just the beginning. The next nine months will bring new opportunities to deepen my Python and backend expertise, to better understand how our platform connects with the broader cybersecurity landscape and to contribute more confidently to the team.

For me, this period was about proving (to myself and to others) that I can adapt, learn and add value even in a very different environment than freelancing.

If you’ve ever moved from freelancing into a larger company, or from one tech stack to another, I’d love to hear how you handled the transition. Every story adds perspective.