Initially, he studied at Banda Aceh, before his family moved to Takengon for a time.

[2] He then studied architecture at university, graduating with a bachelor's degree from the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology in 1988 and later obtaining a master's degree from the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1998.

[3] After graduating, he taught architecture at Syiah Kuala University, and became department head between 2004 and 2006 until he resigned to take part in politics as he was elected the provincial chairman of the Democratic Party.

[5] Aside from lecturing, Iriansyah also formed an architecture consultancy to supplement his low salary.

As Irwandi Yusuf was involved in a corruption case, he was removed from office and Nova was made acting governor on 9 July 2018.