Nikola Novak

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More about Nikola Novak


Now:

Life

  • Married my One that Got Away; it's just as good as people think... better, even!
  • We live in Georgetown, with Riley, the Dawg of Much Shedding; and Abbey, the Head-butting cat

Work

  • Currently the tech lead of a PeopleTools Upgrade and Replatforming project.
    Responsible for solution design, project planning, risk and option analysis, client relationship management, and co-ordinating our cloud, network, infrastructure, development, testing teams across countries, timezones and continents.
    Hmm... should this be in the "fun" section instead?
  • Wrapping up a long stint as Infrastructure Architect and team lead in Ottawa, on largest PeopleSoft Payroll implementation in Canada
  • Lead Photographer for NikPix

Fun

  • Photography
  • Playing with VMWare in my growing homelab, and checking out some Javascript and HTML/CSS
  • Riding the motorcycles when we can
  • Reading: "Blood, Sweat and Pixels - The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made". Harrowing tales of project management, really...

Travel

  • Just returned from Iceland; 9 days of camping in inclement weather, and most stunningly gorgeous natural landscapes we ever dreamed of seeing in our lives


Then...

Life

  • Sarajevo Rijeka Minnesota Winnipeg Toronto Georgetown

Work

  • Visiting instructor at Humber college 2013-2016, teaching project management and MS Project classes to engineers newly arrived to Canada. Tremendous fun and one of the more rewarding experiences of my life)
  • Lead author for "Implementing PeopleSoft Enterprise" RedBook
  • Almost two decades of experience with PeopleSoft infrastructure and ecosystems

Fun

  • Rallying! Whether as driver, navigator, marshall or volunteer, it filled up my '00's
  • Almost got my pilot license in Winnipeg -but not quite (move to Toronto interrupted studies... for now)
  • Dragonboating for a couple of years with the "Totally Insane Crew" - certainly the most challenging physical activity of my nerdy life!
  • Skiing through the childhood and occasionally as adult; tried Rock Climbing, Fencing, etc

Travel

  • Europe (Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia) - 2005,2006,2013,2016
  • USA
    • Year in Minnesota, as exchange student in 1996-1997
    • Kansas, repeatedly, to see family
    • San Francisco, possibly my favourite happy place, in 2003, 2005, 2011, 2014, and as soon as possible again
    • Boston, Vermon and bits of New England with me lovely lady in 2017
    • Chicago a couple of times to help with my nephew's physio
    • 36 hours in Vegas...
  • Canada
    • Calgary and nearby rockies, a few times, with work and family
    • Halifax... want to move there. Can we now? Please? How about now??
    • Vancouter, for four rainy days; on fifth day, whoa - there's mountains and ocean and forrests here!
    • Quebec - Gatineau/Hull (does that count?), Quebec City to Percé Peninsula
    • Montreal, so long ago I barely remember
    • Ottawa, once a week for five years (and I still don't know anything about it)
  • Cuba, where I discovered I can relax, unclench, and unwind after all!
  • Dominican Republic, which they assure me is a completely different place


To-Do:

Life

  • Have our own little grabbies
  • Support our families and each other
  • See the world, meet new people, together
  • Have fun and try new things

Work

  • Build and develop a high-performing, self-leading team
  • Write another book
  • Design, Architect and/or build a system that makes a difference

Fun

  • Learn guitar properly; have a family band; record some horrible music; make friends and family listen to them

Travel

  • Sri-Lanka/Ceylon: Arthur C. Clarke's description, read long ago, never quite left my imagination
  • African Safari... maybe one of Thom Hogan's photographer trips
  • South America: Brazil (where Iwan and the gang are from), Bolivia (Need to visit Ana one of these years), Chile (death road, oh yeah)(or oh no...)
  • San Francisco: can't get enough of that place