Although the STAR method is important, I honestly just felt like the interviewer was more concerned about asking free flowing questions to understand my background. This threw me off because I was prepared for more structure, even though deep down I actually wanted a more thought provoking conversation. Because of this turn of events, I struggled internally the entire way wondering if I should respond via the STAR format, or just straight up respond in the way that lets the best version of myself shine. I chose the latter because well...it was me being honest rather than taking a standardized test. Mind you, this was after many, many hours of preparing responses within the STAR structure, aligning with the 14 leadership principles, but when the interview came I sort of unravelled into my real self. I feel like the interviewers - HR and senior personnel did a good job though. I quite enjoyed the learning process for AWS products, taking courses and Udemy and using the free trial on AWS to prepare for the discussions. It was fun. It was worth it. You'll get something out of the interview process even if you don't get the job (which I did not). In any case I recommend this interview process to anyone.