START here

About me

My name is Relja Novović. I was born and still live in Novi Sad – Serbia (former Yugoslavia – in fact had 4 country changes without changing home address 🙂 ). My interests have always been computers, mechanics and sports. Having never considered sports as a potential career option (just a means of fun and recreation), I’ve turned to the other two as a profession choice. I work as a system administrator (Windows server and client network) and as an extra job/hobby I run a small bicycle service.

Relja - with some hiker in a red shirt
Relja – with some hiker in a red shirt

My knowledge of Linux operating system and Linux servers is very low. Still I have very good knowledge and understanding computer and server working (operating) concepts (load, resource division and allocation, bottlenecks etc.). Same goes for (the Internet) network and network protocols – IP, http(s), FTP, e-mail, DNSs…

I have lots of experience with providing technical support – both for client applications, personal computers and (Windows) servers and networks. A woman doing HR and “head hunting” told me that my work approach is called “client oriented” and to not say that I’m “communicative”, since that means something else (she nicely and patiently explained everything). 🙂

I’m far from an “everything-knowing super-hacker”. Information provided on this website is what I’ve tried and what I can give to the best of my knowledge – or, at least, provided by a reliable source (which I usually note, just in case). For things I don’t know, I’m not afraid to admit: that’s better than giving wrong/unconfirmed information that can lead people to a wrong path towards solving a problem. Learning all the time, everything I need, or am interested in, but will never know everything (unlike some people 🙂 ).

To note this as well: I know almost nothing about smart phones. For some reason, when you are an “IT guy”, many people think you know about mobile phones. 🙂 They don’t interest me and I’ve never gotten myself into studying them. I got my first one relatively recently, for work. But that’s it – just an average user (idiot 🙂 ). I understand mobile networks: cellular bases, protocols etc, but have no idea how to set this and that on a piece of plastic that uses Android, or IOS, any more than your average neighbour, and definitely a lot less than an average teenager. 🙂

My hobby and extra job is bicycle mechanics. When asked about what I do (on vacation, or social events), I usually reply, without lying: “I’m a meister” (in Serbocroatian, the word imported from German means anyone good at fixing anything, including computers, but is usually understood as a mechanic). That way many questions are avoided, along with asking to “just take a look at the kid’s computer” – which usually ends up with a complete OS re-installation, followed by tuning everything as was before, to “I’m used to having that icon there, on the right…” The famous: “that will probably take you just a few minutes“. 🙂

That’s about it in (not very) short.

Skip to content