Vacation REST API

Overview

Vacation REST API was built for the Iconic IT 2024 national competition in the Web Development category. The task was to build an enterprise-style REST API using NestJS with proper modular architecture, TypeScript, and deployment readiness. I built this project solo and ranked 6th nationally — nearly making the top 5 if not for deployment issues on the final day.

Problem

The competition required an enterprise-grade REST API built with NestJS under deadline pressure
I had limited experience with NestJS at the time — this was my first deep dive into the framework
Deployment issues on H-1 nearly derailed the submission

Goal

Build a modular, production-style REST API with NestJS
Demonstrate enterprise patterns: guards, decorators, DTOs, and module separation
Add structured logging with Winston and caching with cache-manager
Deploy to a live server for competition evaluation

Role

I built the entire backend independently under competition conditions.

Team: Achmad Raihan Fahrezi Effendy (Solo Developer)

Architecture

flowchart TD A["NestJS 10 App"] --> B["Modules"] B --> C["Controllers"] B --> D["Services"] B --> E["Guards"] B --> F["Decorators"] D --> G["Prisma ORM"] G --> H[("PostgreSQL")] I["Docker"] --> A I --> H J["Winston Logger"] --> A K["Cache Manager"] --> D

Layer	Technology	Purpose
Framework	NestJS 10	Modular enterprise structure
Language	TypeScript 5	Type safety across the stack
ORM	Prisma	Schema-driven data access
Auth	JWT (passport-jwt)	Authentication and authorization
Logging	nest-winston + Winston	Structured logging
Caching	@nestjs/cache-manager	Response caching
Validation	Zod	Schema validation
Testing	Jest + Supertest	Unit and integration tests
Container	Docker	Reproducible environment

Key Features

Modular Architecture — Clean separation of modules, controllers, services, and guards
Enterprise Patterns — Custom decorators, DTOs with validation, and guard-based authentication
Schema-Driven Data Access — Prisma for type-safe database operations with migrations and seeding
Structured Logging — Winston integration for request tracking and debugging
Response Caching — Cache-manager for frequently accessed data
Docker Integration — Containerized development and deployment environment

Technical Decisions

NestJS was chosen because the competition valued enterprise architecture patterns
Prisma was used for schema-first development and type safety
Winston was added for production-ready structured logging
Cache-manager was included to demonstrate performance optimization awareness
Docker was added to demonstrate production-ready deployment practices

Challenges

Learning NestJS decorators, dependency injection, and module system under competition pressure
Deployment server issues on H-1 nearly prevented submission — this taught me the importance of deployment testing early
Balancing competition features with code quality required strict prioritization

Outcome

Ranked 6th nationally in the Web Development category at Iconic IT 2024. The judges noted the modular architecture and enterprise patterns, though deployment issues prevented a higher ranking.

Final Thoughts

Vacation REST API was the project that proved I could compete at a national level. The deployment failure on the final day was painful, but it taught me that deployment is not an afterthought — it is part of the product. The NestJS proficiency I gained here became the foundation for my internship work at DOT Indonesia.