Sainsbury’s Java Software Developer interview questions

An online coding assessment consisting of two problems, the first one is the same for everyone, a chessboard problem: The checkerboard bellow has 64 squares, 8 rows and 8 columns. Each row is labeled from 1 to 8 and each column is labeled from a to h (lowercase). A square is located at the intersection of a row and of a column, like square 2C it's the intersection of the row 2 and column C. By first positioning a piece to a starting square you'll need to figure out whero the end square will be by moving the piece R times (rows) vertically to the top and C times (columns) horizontally to the right. If during the moves the piece reaches the end of the board, it will start again from the opposite direction like in the example below.  INPUT string startPosition number rows number columns OUTPUT string endPosition EXAMPLE 1 Input startPosition: 2b, rows: 3, columns: 2 Output 5d EXAMPLE 2 Input  startPosition: 5h, rows: 11, columns 25 Output ​​​​​​8a The second problem, if you're applying for a React position, is a search application in React that is using an API created in Spring to see details about Products which are formatted in JSON. If you are applying for a Java position, you'll be asked to create a Spring Boot application where you are required to write a @Service implementation of the Luhn algorithm and autowire it to the @Controller and @RestController components. If you make it through the coding assessment, ONLY THEN will your CV be reviewed, and you might be shortlisted for an interview (bear this in mind, your experience will be reviewed ONLY after completing the coding assessment!). If you make it through to the final stage, the interview is a check-the-boxes type that follows the following pattern: Step 1: Code review + they'll ask variations of the coding challenge you completed Step 2: Technical questioning (talking through a solution you've worked on) Step 3: 5-minute break (note, even if you're unsuccessful, the recruiters will continue the interview; it's a good way to waste 2 hours of company time) Step 4: If you are successful in the technical review, we will invite you to continue to a 45-minute competency-based interview. You'll be asked questions to help us understand what drives your behaviours and attitudes. These answers will be sent to the hiring manager, who will ask if it's a yes or a no, and you'll get a rejection within 48 hours. If you didn't get a rejection within this timeframe, congratulations, you made it, and you can expect a call where they'll start negotiating an offer). If you did get a rejection, you get the contact of the hiring manager, but don't even bother asking for feedback; the hiring manager doesn't attend most of the interviews, and corporate law prevents them from telling you a genuine reason.

During the initial round, a technical assessment presented a straightforward challenge, but the testing tool proved non-intuitive. Despite completing both questions successfully and being confident in my solutions, I received a message stating they had already shortlisted candidates based on resumes, leading me to question the purpose of the technical assessment. I'm give a positive rating as it helped me boost my confidence in the technical assessment.