Production · Case study
USAA Software Engineering
Enterprise APIs and Troubleshooting Software
Production
KeywordsJava · Spring Boot · GraphQL · React · TypeScript · PostgreSQL
Summary
Problem and impact
Problem
Internal teams needed customer data presented through dependable services and clear troubleshooting views.
Impact
During my internship at USAA’s global headquarters in San Antonio, I built Java and Spring Boot GraphQL APIs for customer-data workflows and reduced troubleshooting time by 30% through API enhancements and JavaScript comparison views.
Case study
Approach, architecture, evaluation, delivery
01Technical Approach
- Built Java and Spring Boot GraphQL APIs for customer-data workflows used across enterprise channels.
- Integrated name and employment data from multiple sources into an internal troubleshooting tool.
- Built JavaScript comparison views and delivered work through an Agile team workflow.
02Architecture Decisions
- Contract-first GraphQL API layer over core risk services using Java and Spring Boot.
- Typed front-end integrations for operational dashboards and internal support tooling.
- Data-access partitioning to separate source-of-record from troubleshooting data paths.
03Reliability and Evaluation
- Used typed GraphQL contracts and team review workflows to keep service changes predictable.
- Worked within security- and compliance-conscious production engineering practices.
- Validated data presentation with the internal users who depended on the troubleshooting workflow.
04Delivery and Operations
- Shipped incrementally with Agile team workflows and shared Jira/Git ownership.
- Coordinated API and front-end changes across product, backend, and business stakeholders.
- Participated in sprint planning, stand-ups, code collaboration, and retrospectives using Jira and Git.
05Results
- Reduced troubleshooting time by 30% through API enhancements and JavaScript comparison views.
- Contributed customer-data API capabilities for enterprise workflows.
06What I Learned
- Clear API contracts help teams make changes safely.
- Reliable production software depends on close collaboration between engineers, product owners, and end users.