Target | L4 Java Backend Engineer | Interview Experience | Rejected

I have around 2 years of experience as a Java backend developer at a service-based company, recently i interviewed for the L4 Java Backend Engineer role at Target through an in-person hiring drive in Bangalore.

I applied through Target's careers portal and cleared the online assessment before attending the in-person interviews.

Online Assessment

I had to solve three coding problems during the assessment:

1. Task Scheduling Variation - Hard, involving Greedy and Priority Queue.

2. Array Problem

3. Topological Sort with Multi-Source BFS.

After clearing the assessment, I was invited to the in-person interview drive in Bangalore.

Round 1: Technical Interview

I started with a discussion about my current projects and the backend technologies I use in my work.

The main topics I covered were:

• Java fundamentals

• Spring Boot

• Kafka and messaging systems

• Database performance optimization

• Project-based scenarios and troubleshooting

Most of the questions were related to situations I had encountered in real projects. I had to explain how I approached different problems and why I chose particular solutions rather than simply recalling theoretical concepts.

I felt the discussion went well, and I received positive feedback.

Round 2: Projects, Pair Programming and Design Patterns

This round lasted approximately 85 minutes and was divided into three parts.

Project Discussion - 30 Minutes

I walked through my recent projects and explained the architecture, implementation choices, and reasoning behind my decisions. I also answered follow-up questions about the technical challenges I had encountered.

Pair Programming - 30 Minutes

I was given three bugs to identify and fix. I managed to resolve all three during the session.

The interviewer specifically appreciated my debugging ability and told me that my bug-fixing skills were very good.

Design Patterns - 30 Minutes

I was asked to implement two design patterns:

• Strategy Pattern: I used it to demonstrate how I could make behavior interchangeable and keep the implementation extensible.

• Factory Pattern: I discussed how I could simplify object creation and reduce dependencies on concrete implementations.

I completed the tasks and felt positive about how the round had gone.

However, when HR communicated the final decision, I was told that the interviewers had not found what they were looking for in this round, despite the positive feedback about my debugging skills.

Round 3: Hiring Manager

My hiring manager interview was initially scheduled for one hour but continued for approximately two hours.

One question that stood out to me was:

What problem existed before, and what problem does your solution solve?

I noticed that the discussion repeatedly returned to the reasoning behind my decisions, the alternatives I had considered, and the impact of my work.

Project Impact and Database Optimization

I discussed a project where I had contributed to reducing downtime by approximately 62%. I spent around ten minutes explaining the project and answering follow-up questions.

I then discussed database optimization, particularly when working with millions of rows.

The topics I covered included:

• Indexing and its impact on write performance

• Selecting only the columns required by a query

• Query optimizer hints

• Caching

• The N+1 query problem

• Database partitioning

• Sharding and replication, including their benefits, limitations, and use cases

When I explained my approach to partitioning, the hiring manager responded positively and said, “Exactly, I am looking for this from you.”

Security and Identity Management

Since I was interviewing for a Java backend role within Target's Cybersecurity/IAM team, I also discussed security concepts relevant to my banking-domain experience.

I answered questions about authentication versus authorization, JWT, encryption, and practical security scenarios.

I tried to connect these concepts to real-world applications rather than explaining them only in theoretical terms.

Messaging and Distributed Systems

I discussed the messaging technologies I had used in my projects and explained why I had chosen them.

The conversation covered:

• Why I used IBM MQ and the trade-offs involved

• Resilience patterns

• Circuit Breaker states and their behavior

• The Saga pattern

• Kafka and its role in my progress-tracking service

I also explained the problems these technologies addressed in my projects and how I had applied them.

Behavioral and Managerial Discussion

The hiring manager also asked me several questions about my working style and professional experience.

I discussed how I handle disagreements with a manager, measure my growth, manage tight deadlines, and balance my own deliverables against helping teammates.

Other questions covered why I wanted to join Target, why I was considering leaving my current organization, whether I had ever missed a deadline, and what feedback I had received about my communication.

I was also asked how I would handle a situation where I needed to deliver a service within two days and how I would support an upstream team facing an issue.

When asked about troubleshooting, I explained my usual process: checking logs and request-level behavior first, then investigating the application, database, gateway, and infrastructure as needed.

I rated my Java and Spring Boot skills at around 8 out of 10, while acknowledging that I still had room to improve.

Toward the end, the hiring manager explained some of the challenges I might encounter during my first 90 days and said the feedback would be shared with HR.

Final Result

I received a call from HR informing me that Target would not be moving forward with my application. I was told that my profile was not inclined for the role.

I was also informed that the second-round interview had not demonstrated what the interviewers were looking for, even though I had successfully fixed all three bugs and received positive feedback about my debugging skills.

I had felt reasonably confident after the first two rounds, and my conversation with the hiring manager had included several encouraging moments. However, I ultimately did not receive an offer.