About me

Hey there. I’m Vedran Novak from Croatia, currently based in Graz, Austria. I’m a certified software developer and team leader. But above all, I’m a dad, husband, son, brother, and friend.

I could say that I was a very nonchalant person in my early days, especially during my high school period. I would only look for fun without thinking or worrying about my future. Life was about fun – training football, playing music, and other non-professional activities.

This changed drastically after high school. I started to work on myself. My love for numbers, logical thinking, and creativity brought me to the IT industry.
The first more significant step for me was learning for and obtaining the Oracle certification to become a software developer. After that certification process, I started working at my first job as a developer. One year later, I moved two countries away from my motherland to work in Austria. Soon, I was having 8+ years of experience under my belt, but for me, that was just the beginning.

I’ve become a person who constantly feels a need to do more and wants to help others, so I’ve created my voluntary project. I’ve always wanted to teach other people the skills I know the best. In 2020, I asked friends on my Facebook profile if there was anyone who would like to learn how to code. I thought maybe one or two people would be interested in it. They organically shared my initial post, and it reached more than a thousand people. It turned out that there were so many interested people that I had to limit the group to a maximum of 40 students.

Later in 2020, I accepted another offer and jumped on the challenge to work as a team leader of a group of three software developers. It was a big leap for my career and myself. Since then, the team has successfully grown to nine members in one and a half years. I can’t explain how grateful I am for this position and how much I’ve learned in the role of a leader. There is not a day that I don’t learn something new, either from my work colleagues or from the leadership position itself.

In 2021 my wife and I got a promotion, and we became parents. For me, fatherhood is the most significant responsibility and joy. I’ve heard many times that once you get the kids, you let go of your dreams, and you settle down. In my case, it’s the opposite. Now, more than ever, I have the motivation and one big reason to be an example of following your dreams and constantly optimizing your lifestyle.

On my blog page, I’m sharing my thoughts and perspective on various topics, and useful tips and information about self-improvement, professional career, fitness, health, and life in general. I strongly believe that we should always be optimizing our lifestyles, no matter how big progress we’ve made in the past.

That’s me in a nutshell. Feel free to explore my website and get to know me better.

In case you have a direct message for me, you can reach out using the contact form, or over the social media platforms @vedranovak (with one “n”).