Workplace preparation is increasingly part of university curricula and this has led to the appointment of staff with professional practice expertise being appointed to teach, who are experienced professionals yet HE novices. How do they make sense of HE's expectations and begin to reconcile their identity as educators with the credibility their practice expertise confers? The paper draws on sociocultural perspectives of Communities of Practice, framing identity development as a process of intertwined trajectories between the different communities an individual is involved with. It seeks to illuminate the affective impact of socialisation experiences and implications for academic development.