This session brings together speakers from varied backgrounds conducting field work in ecology, both in terms of the ecosystems represented and personal experience in navigating the challenges presented by traditional ecological field work. The primary goal for this session is for speakers to share lessons learned from their own experiences, including skills they wish they had learned prior to conducting field work, navigating assumptions around physical, mental, and social expectations in the field, overcoming deficits in knowledge considered “commonplace” by those with experience in the outdoors, and other personal and professional barriers to conducting successful field work in ecology. With this session, we hope to address and help minimize barriers to ecologists beginning their careers, especially those who have limited or no experience preparing for work in the field or for whom field work presents unique challenges. We aim to do this both by providing actionable information to those new to the field and by offering insight to mid-and late career ecologists so they may be better equipped to recognize and reduce barriers that their advisees face. Though we cannot address all aspects of field work in ecology, we expect this session will be valuable to a broad ecological audience that can identify with and benefit from the experiences shared in this session. In addition, the advice shared during the session will also be compiled into a series of blog posts to be made available on the Early Career Ecologist Section website to those unable to attend the session in-person.