A Conversation with Olga Krasnykov- Proud of Software Modeling Evolution at Nova

Eleven years is so impressive, Olga! What influenced your choice?

I joined Nova, fresh out of university. I studied physics at Ben Gurion University and today I hold a BSc in Physics and an MSc in Electro-Optic engineering.
When looking for a job, after graduation, I sent out a few CVs and interviewed with several companies. But I decided to place my bet on Nova, because I liked the atmosphere. So here I am, eleven years later, and still going strong.
The manager that recruited me, Avron is still here as well. He is no longer my manager, but we still get to work together a lot. When he has special requests or critique, I like to joke with him, that if he doesn’t like my work, it’s his fault, because he made the decision to hire me.  

Since you came to Nova, you’ve held in quite a few positions. Can you describe your journey?

I started at Nova as an application engineer. This job evolved in the direction of R&D modeling, and then grew to team leader positions in the R&D applications team. About a year and a half ago I started managing a small modeling project and since then, I received two additional software modeling projects, to make life a bit more interesting.  

From your experience as a manager, do you think men and women have different managing styles?

I reject the idea that women and men operate differently because of their gender. I know different people have different management styles. But in my opinion, the different styles can only be attributed to the managers’ character, attitude, and persona, not to their gender. It is all about personal traits and attitude. 

What motivates your success?

I have a personal drive to complete my projects successfully. This doesn’t mean that all my projects in the last eleven years were successful. But I am driven by my need to bring the projects I work on to successful completion. My second driver is my need to keep things versatile and interesting. I really enjoy the action my work provides. 
I love it when I get a project in its nascent stages. I get to grow the metaphorical baby into a full product that our customers actually need and use. 

Can you share your insights about motivating your team?

Sure. I believe it’s important that the team is connected to the goals: I make sure they understand what unique value the project brings, who is the customer, and what are the milestones. This helps ensure that we are keeping our priorities straight – once all team members are aligned with the goals, we can start operating as a team. In addition, I’m trying to get as much feedback as possible from the end-users and bring them to the R&D team. Or even bring the internal end-users into the R&D process as early as possible – this creates the difference between a good and an excellent product.

What successful project are you most proud of?

Oh no, I’m really terrible at this. ???? All the successes that I’ve had, were the result of teamwork. It is never just about my success. It is never ever my own success.

I’m not going to let you off the hook that easy- Let’s rephrase. If I were to ask your colleagues what they think about you professionally, what would they say?

You’re not really asking me this.  I guess they would be positive about my work. But again, I feel like I’m doing my job, and there’s nothing really special about the things I do. The quality of my work, my motivation, my dedication – they’re exactly the same as my colleagues’. If you really want to know what my colleagues think of me, just ask them.  

I love that idea. We will ask your colleague Michael Shifrin to share his opinion of you… 

What makes you proud of working at Nova?

While I do not attribute the success of the modeling products to me, but to the whole team, I am very proud of the growth in this area, in recent years. When there is a challenge, and it doesn’t matter if it’s technical or commercial, the entire team contributes to finding a solution. 
The team comes together, bringing with them their entire selves – their motivation, skills, knowledge and a multidisciplinary approach, to help resolve the issue. It is really beautiful to see the growth here, which means were doing something right. And it makes me very proud to work here.

What are the 3 best things about working at Nova?

• I enjoy working here because of the people. Even when we were able to work at home, I came to the office. But I like the people here, on a personal level, and I appreciate them professionally, so it makes sense to me that I make the effort to come into the office. I really enjoy working with them.
• Technology! I think Nova does really great things. We have a comprehensive portfolio, and this allows us to put the focus on the important things, and offer better solutions to our customers
• There is great synergy between the various teams. Yes, there are conflicts of priorities, but everyone makes their best effort to make things happen and support the needs of other teams.

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