Commonwealth Bank Tech Explorer Job Simulation (Forage)

Cross-functional simulation covering iOS widget design, requirements gathering (BDD user stories), IAM permissions modelling, and data-driven demographic targeting for a new savings feature.

Overview

This project is based on the Commonwealth Bank Tech Explorer job simulation on Forage, designed to provide exposure to multiple technology roles involved in launching a new banking feature. The program spans software engineering, tech analysis, cybersecurity (IAM), and data science, mirroring cross-team delivery realities in a regulated FinTech environment.

Task 1 — Software Engineering: iOS Home-Screen Widget Design

Objective: Produce designs for a banking app widget in three iOS widget sizes, displaying current balance and last three transactions, with deep-link navigation into the app.

Work performed:

  • Designed layout variants for small/medium/large widgets with hierarchy, readability, and tap targets.
  • Considered user interaction model: tapping balance or transactions routes to relevant in-app views.
  • Accounted for release workflow dependencies (engineering implementation → QA testing → App Store submission).

Skills applied: iOS UI thinking, information hierarchy, interaction design, feature framing for engineering handoff.

Task 2 — Tech Analysis: Requirements Gathering (Savings Feature)

Objective: Gather requirements for a new savings goal feature, reconcile stakeholder expectations, surface ambiguities, and translate into implementable delivery artifacts.

Work performed:

  • Synthesized inputs from senior/product/engineering perspectives.
  • Identified terminology conflicts (e.g., “phone notifications” vs “remote notifications”).
  • Captured edge cases (insufficient funds, duplicate account names, cancellation flow).
  • Authored user stories and a BDD-style Definition of Done for acceptance readiness.

Skills applied: requirements elicitation, ambiguity resolution, user-story writing, BDD acceptance criteria, cross-team alignment.

Task 3 — Cybersecurity: Identity and Access Management (Confluence)

Objective: Review Confluence usage within the iOS engineering space and recommend least-privilege permissions per user group.

Work performed:

  • Modelled access needs across roles and content types in Confluence spaces.
  • Produced a permission matrix aligning with least privilege and operational collaboration.

Skills applied: IAM fundamentals, access modelling, RBAC-style permission reasoning, governance mindset.

Task 4 — Data Science: Demographic Targeting via Transaction Data

Objective: Use transactional and demographic data to identify groups most suitable for advertising the new savings feature.

Work performed:

  • Performed data cleaning (e.g., filtering out entries missing location).
  • Used Excel filtering/sorting to answer business questions about target demographics.
  • Translated findings into marketing-relevant targeting recommendations.

Skills applied: data cleaning, exploratory analysis, Excel-based segmentation, business-to-data reasoning.

Practical Relevance

This project demonstrates readiness for roles involving cross-functional delivery, including:

  • Product/security collaboration in regulated environments
  • IAM and least-privilege access reasoning for collaboration platforms
  • Requirements and acceptance criteria writing (useful for BA/PO/engineering interfaces)
  • Data-informed decision support for feature launches