This repository contains my implementation and learnings from the JPMorganChase Software Engineering Job Simulation hosted on Forage. The project focuses on building core backend components of a transaction-processing system using Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, SQL, and REST APIs, closely simulating real-world backend engineering work at JPMorganChase.
During this simulation, I worked on a backend microservice inspired by the Midas transaction-processing system. The goal was to design, implement, and test a scalable and reliable service capable of consuming high-volume transaction messages, validating and persisting data, integrating with external services, and exposing RESTful APIs.
This experience provided hands-on exposure to distributed systems, event-driven architecture, and clean backend design, reinforcing my interest in backend and platform engineering roles.
- Integrated Apache Kafka into a Spring Boot microservice.
- Consumed and deserialized high-volume transaction messages.
- Used a configurable Kafka topic for flexibility across environments.
- Implemented and tested message consumption using an embedded Kafka test framework.
- Implemented transaction validation logic to ensure data consistency.
- Designed JPA entities for transactions and users.
- Persisted data using Spring Data JPA with an H2 in-memory SQL database.
- Updated user balances while maintaining relational integrity between records.
- Connected the service to an external Incentive REST API using
RestTemplate. - Processed incentive responses and incorporated them into transactional workflows.
- Ensured fault tolerance and clean separation of concerns between services.
- Developed a Spring REST controller to expose user balance data.
- Returned structured JSON responses.
- Maintained clean architectural boundaries between controller, service, and repository layers.
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Verified system behavior using Maven test suites.
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Used embedded Kafka and H2 for reliable and repeatable tests.
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Debugged and inspected application flow to validate:
- Message ingestion
- Database operations
- External API interactions
- Language: Java
- Framework: Spring Boot, Spring Framework
- Messaging: Apache Kafka
- Database: H2 SQL Database
- ORM: Spring Data JPA
- API Communication: REST APIs, RestTemplate
- Build Tool: Maven
- Testing: JUnit, Embedded Kafka
Controller Layer
↓
Service Layer (Business Logic)
↓
Repository Layer (JPA / Database)
↓
Kafka Consumer & External REST API
This layered architecture ensures maintainability, testability, and scalability.
- Gained practical experience with event-driven microservices.
- Strengthened understanding of Kafka-based message processing.
- Improved skills in Spring Boot, JPA, and RESTful API design.
- Learned how enterprise systems integrate databases, message queues, and external services.
- Developed confidence in testing and debugging distributed systems.
This simulation confirmed my interest in:
- Scalable backend system design
- Data processing pipelines
- API-driven and distributed architectures
It closely reflects the type of backend engineering challenges faced at JPMorganChase, making it a valuable learning and portfolio project.
- Program: JPMorganChase Software Engineering Job Simulation
- Platform: Forage
- Completion: September 2025
I am a B.Tech IT student with a strong interest in backend and full-stack development, particularly using Java, Spring Boot, and distributed systems. This project represents my effort to build industry-relevant skills and apply them in real-world scenarios.
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