The literature is replete with information regarding the nationwide shortage of nursing faculty occurring in academia and practice. Due to the lack of available nursing faculty, masters-prepared nurses are being recruited into academia from clinical practice: expert clinicians with limited preparation in educational pedagogy. This descriptive phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of participants who transitioned from expert nurse clinicians to novice nurse educators in academia. The theoretical framework was Benner's novice to expert theory to explain and interpret the phenomenon as consciously experienced by novice nurse educators. Data were collected via Zoom virtual interviews using semi-structured questions with a purposive sample of 14 novice nursing faculty with fewer than 2 years of academic teaching experience, and who spoke English fluently. The semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim, and manual data analysis was conducted using Colaizzi's method to help draw individual textural and structural descriptions to uncover the essence of the novice nurse educator's experiences. The research findings and the five primary themes that emerged from the data collected through semi-structured interviews are discussed. The primary themes that emerged from the data were: (a) no onboarding as a nurse educator, (b) surprised at the role of nurse educator, (c) faculty and student incivility and bullying in nursing education, (d) lack of support in nursing education, and (e) lack of work-life balance. The most important recommendation for nursing education and leadership is that formal mentoring is key to meeting novice nurse educators' current and future needs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]