The study explored the lived experiences of online teaching by first time online lecturers in institutions of higher education in South Africa during COVID-19. The study adopted a qualitative approach. Findings show positive and negative experiences influenced by variables related to personality, technology, workload and physical teaching environment among others. Personality traits like fear of risks, attitudes to online teaching, emotional management skills serve to model experiences. Participants with negative attitude towards online teaching and low emotional intelligence generally had negative experiences of online teaching exacerbated by a lack of technical and psycho-social support. Positive experiences were found to be a result of positive attitude towards change, positive emotional intelligence and access to different kinds of support. This group experienced high levels of job satisfaction and positive online teaching experiences. Understanding lecturers' experiences is thus crucial in establishing best practices in online teaching which ensure job satisfaction and quality of teaching.