Ninja Cat of the Year award winner looks to make life easier for other developers

Oren Novotny is recognized for his contributions to the Windows community.

The ninjacat originated in a PowerPoint presentation about Windows 10 and has come to symbolize the passion and energy of the people behind the code. Unofficially, it represents the spirit of Microsoft employees. Officially, the Ninja Cat of the Year award, one of the 2018 Windows Developer Awards, recognizes a standout developer who exemplified Microsoft’s core values and made significant contributions to the craft of Windows development in the past year.

This 2018 winner, Oren Novotny, is the chief architect of developer operations and modern software at application maker Blue Metal. Just last month, he was asked to join the Microsoft regional director program. He serves on the .Net Foundation Advisory Council, is a member of the Visual Studio ALM Rangers, and has been a Microsoft MVP for the last four years.

With these kinds of credentials, his “significant contribution” is beyond doubt. But it’s not just his own achievements that made Oren the winner — it’s his input to the developer community as a whole.

Success is about others

He’s frequently described as a good neighbor, someone willing to support other developers in their work. “I really believe in trying to help others succeed,” he says.

Oren brings this belief to his customers as well. “It’s not about us; it’s about solving our clients’ challenges and helping address business problems,” he says.

As you’d expect from someone with such broad experience, his current areas of interest are wide-ranging. Although, Oren does concentrate on a couple areas in particular. “Our focus lately has been mostly on the cloud,” he says. “and we’re talking a lot about field enablement and workforce productivity.”

Oren describes application security and identity as “another area that I’m deep on,” specifically Azure ID and Azure AD B2C. “I help clients understand how those tools can fit in and enable new things around customer 360. I try to get a full view of what the customers are doing and how you authenticate and identify them across multiple avenues, whether it’s through loyalty reward programs, or coming to the websites and mobile apps,” he explains. “Identity is always at the heart of it. Being able to put together a cohesive identity story which transcends the employee workforce along with the external customer workforce, that’s the goal.”

Hands-on development is his passion, but no longer the main element of Oren’s day-to-day job. To get his fill, he has many side projects. “Outside of my main job, I do a lot of developing. I love it.”

Answers from annoyances

How does he pick which project should get his attention? Simple: He works on making his life easier. And, he believes, if technical improvements make his life easier, they will do the same for other developers.

“The things that bother me personally are what get my attention,” he says. “My work with the code signing service was a direct result of me thinking ‘this is going to be a thorn in my side.’ I wasn’t looking for a problem to solve. I just thought ‘this can be better.’ But it is generally applicable to pretty much anyone else in the Windows ecosystem that needs to do code signing.”

Oren grew up around computers. His childhood was spent assembling and building machines and trying to figure out “how it all works.” And, while he’s still in awe of all that computers can achieve, he’s at pains to stress that technology isn’t enough on its own.

“Technology is just a means to an end,” he says. “I’m always trying to tie technology back to solving business challenges and enabling new scenarios. If it exists in a vacuum, technology itself is meaningless.”

His reaction on being awarded Ninja Cat of the Year was characteristically self-effacing. “I was not expecting it,” he says. “It was one of those things…I don’t know what I did to deserve this. I just do what I do and hopefully other people find that valuable. But of course, I’m very grateful for the award. It’s just I’m not one to toot my own horn.”

He’s also very grateful for the support of his family: his wife, his daughter (aged four) and son (two). “My work takes quite a bit of time; it involves a lot of travel; it’s not easy,” he says. “I’m able to give back to the developer community because I have such great support, both from my company and from my family. I certainly couldn’t do it without the love of my family.”