Target Interview Experience | Backend Engineer-L4 | Septemper 2025
Summary
I successfully cleared my interview process for a Backend Engineer-L4 role at Target, which involved an online assessment, two technical rounds, and a hiring manager round over approximately 25 days.
Full Experience
My interview journey with Target for a Backend Engineer-L4 position began when a recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn. The entire process took about 25 days from the initial contact to the final verdict.
Online Assessment
The online assessment consisted of three coding questions:
- A straightforward question involving simple loops and if-else conditions.
- A problem where I needed to find numbers divisible by
sqrt(n)within a given range[L, R], for which a stack-based solution was expected. - A dynamic programming problem that was a variation of the classic
minDistancestring problem.
Technical Interview Round 1 (60 minutes)
This round focused on a mix of DSA, system design, and theoretical concepts:
- I was given a DSA question on performing a zig-zag traversal of a binary tree.
- There was a quick discussion on designing an E-commerce site, though it didn't delve into deep discussions beyond my initial design explanation.
- I faced several theoretical questions covering topics like SOLID principles, the CAP theorem, and key considerations for upgrading Java from version 8 to 17.
- Finally, I was asked how I would sort all strings starting with a specific character 'c' within a
List<String> strListusing only Java streams.
Technical Interview Round 2 (60 minutes)
This round was purely dedicated to system design. I was tasked with designing a Personalized Promotion System. This involved gathering all requirements, providing rough API contracts, explaining my choice of database and why, and illustrating with sample database contracts. This round extended by about 10 minutes due to the engaging discussion.
Hiring Manager Round (45 minutes)
The final round with the hiring manager covered various aspects:
- I provided a high-level overview of my current organization's projects.
- I answered multiple STAR-based behavioral questions.
- We discussed the differences and use cases for RDBMS versus NoSQL databases.
- I shared my exposure to AI technologies.
- I talked about my contributions and responsibilities within my present team.
- Lastly, there was a discussion about my current compensation details.
I was happy to receive the final verdict of "Selected" after the entire process.
Interview Questions (15)
Given a range [L, R], find numbers divisible by sqrt(n). A stack-based solution is expected.
A variation of the minDistance string problem, likely requiring a dynamic programming solution.
Implement a zig-zag level order traversal for a binary tree.
Design an E-commerce site. The discussion was mainly around the design explanation.
Discuss the SOLID principles of object-oriented design.
Explain the CAP theorem.
Discuss key considerations and changes when upgrading Java from version 8 to 17.
Given a List<String> strList, sort all strings starting with a specific character 'c' using only Java streams.
Design a Personalized Promotion System. This included gathering requirements, providing rough API contracts, justifying the chosen database, and showing sample database contracts.
Discuss a high-level overview of projects in my current organization.
Answer multiple behavioral questions using the STAR method.
Discuss the differences and trade-offs between RDBMS and NoSQL databases.
Discuss my exposure and experience with Artificial Intelligence.
Discuss my contributions and responsibilities within my current team.
Discussion about my current compensation details.