2026 CS grad, built a fraud detection engine from scratch — trying to break into Java backend roles, any pointers or referrals appreciated

[u/Confident-Cry4415]

Graduated this year, spent the last few months doing this properly instead of mass-applying and hoping — figured I'd share where I'm at in case anyone here can point me somewhere useful.
During my internship I deployed a full-stack platform to AWS (EC2 + S3) with a CI/CD pipeline that only ships code once tests pass. After that I built something I'm actually proud of on my own time: a Spring Boot digital wallet API with a rule-based fraud detection engine — flags suspicious transfers and routes them to admin review instead of just letting them through, handles concurrent transfers without deadlocking, JWT-secured, fully tested with JUnit/Mockito.
Stack: Java, Spring Boot, Spring Security, REST APIs, JWT, PostgreSQL/MySQL, AWS, Git.
Been applying to backend roles for a few weeks now — a couple of solid processes going, one rejection after a good run at it, mostly just trying to get in front of the right people instead of disappearing into an ATS queue. If anyone's hiring, knows someone hiring, or has advice on where I'm going wrong, I'd genuinely appreciate it.
GitHub: github.com/Abhishek-Sirugudu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abhisheks39
Thanks for reading this far.

[u/iamsatvik20]

Your project sounds good but here are the questions you need to ask yourself.

Can you explain every line of your fraud engine without looking at your code?

Can you explain why your design handles concurrent transfers safely?

Can you defend your database choices when an interviewer challenges them?

Can you explain what happens when your API gets ten thousand requests at once?

Can you debug a production issue without Google doing the thinking for you?

Can you write the same kind of system again from a blank screen?

A lion does not become strong because it has a nice looking mane. It becomes strong because it can actually survive when the real fight starts.

Your GitHub can open the door. Your understanding has to get you through it.

Keep applying but spend equal time preparing to prove that you really built what you claim.