First of all, congrats ashs1 for the first job. It's nice to hear this news.
First job, can be both exciting and nerve wreaking. It's also a drastic change in your life. But its nothing if you have the right attitude to face it. So here are some points, mostly first hand experience. What whitestar_999 said is important for you right now, but what I am about to write here are some general pointers, and could be helpful down the line, and which I learned, some easily while others through a hard way over the course of 6 years in my working career.
1. Be professional: This is probably the most important advice for a working man/women and quite counter-intuitive, coming from a student life. Over time, you would tend to make acquaintances in your team (called team mate or colleagues) but remember, they are colleagues first, and friends later. So if you are for eg, reviewing the work done by someone (as part of your job), never try to hide their mistake. It might hurt other person in the moment, but in the long run, it will be beneficial for both of you.
2. Always be open to criticism: We are only human, and bound to make mistakes. So when other point out your mistakes, thank them and learn to accept it. And try to add it to your checklist if it's something that you can take care for future. Consider criticism as constructive feedback, which you can use to improve your skills.
3. Be less egoistic: As men, it's very difficult to throw away your ego, but trust me when I say, no problem can be solved with Ego. It's difficult but certainly doable. When you understand that everyone you work with is 'professional', there is no place for Ego in between. Being humble is the way to built rapport. Being able to understand other's point of view is something which would give you greater perspective.
4. Learn to say 'I don't know': Saying 'I don't know' when you really don't know something, is the best way to built credibility. Since when you do know something, your manager (or TL) would believe you. But unless and until you are sure about the answer, don't throw random answer which 'may seem plausible'. You may buy time, "I would have to look at it sir". Just these words, and they will appreciate your honesty. But after that always follow up with your research.
5. Be responsible: Whatever tasks are being handed over to you, take them with responsibility. If some tasks have been assigned to you, it's your responsibility now to complete it, and do it with quality. But that's not enough. It's your responsibility to inform your superior about the job which you just finished. I have seen new team mates, who does work exceptionally well, but don't report back once the task is complete. It results in frustration from TL, since the only indicator for a task to finish is for you to report it. This happens to people, who don't have a sense of "responsibility". In college, we usually don't complete assignment, unless professor ask for it. We don't study hard, unless parents request us to do so. But when you are working, no one spoon feeds you, and you have to raise your concerns and get answers all by yourself.
6. Email skills: While as a fresher, you won't be expected to write emails to clients, but a good email writing skill is really appreciated. Always proofread what you write. Punctuation makes hell of a difference in corporate environment. And one lines are not appreciated. So you should be able to explain something really good through your writing and in detail. (Being active on a forum like TDF helps, since we discourage SMS lingo and bad grammar
)
7. Team skills: If your team is participating in some activity, you have got to push yourself to it. It's called team spirit and its more important at work, then what was at in your college. If there is some team outing, you have got to show up. All of this, till your primary work is unaffected. Participation is important, to read others and to learn their nature. You don't want to be seem aloof and odd one out.
There are many other points, but these mostly are points to begin with. I might want to revisit and write more on the subject, but I think for a fresher, these points might seems exhaustive enough and this post have already been too long.
All the best man. Keep us updated of your experience.
