A look back at iManage U 2024: Insights from our interns

As we open this year's internship opportunities and look ahead to iManage U 2025, we want to reflect on our iManage U 2024 program. We hosted 25 interns at our Chicago office for our 10-week summer internship, with interns across our Engineering, Sales, Customer Support, and Security teams. Our iManage U Class of 2024 had a tremendous impact across our organization.

(Some of our) iManage U Class of 2024

• Dennis Cherepanov: Java Engineering Intern, Lake Forest College – Computer and Data Science
• Elan Goldman: Java Engineering Intern, Rutgers University – Computer Science and Math
• Connor Sheriff: Application Security Engineer Intern, Purdue University – Cybersecurity
• Rishika Ravindran: Data Science Intern, University of Chicago – Data Science
• Katie Makarska: Product Owner Intern, Carnegie Mellon University – Information Systems & Human-Computer Interaction
• Ethan Yoon: Trust Center Intern, University of Chicago – Computer Science & Public Policy

What sort of support/mentorship did you experience over the course of your internship?

• Connor Sheriff: A lot. Everyone from the team was playing a game of chicken to see how much they could help Nathan and me. People were constantly sharing what they were working on and seeing if we were interested in it. They also offered that if we wanted more responsibility, there were plenty of options!
• Rishika Ravindran: My mentor was great. She made me feel like the work I did was valuable, that it meant something. It made work more fun and kept me engaged. It made me want to do the work and keep it going. I had a great mentor!
• Katie Makarska: My mentor and manager were great at providing support, and I also received mentorship through lots of other people throughout the company — I  did a bunch of coffee chats! I was able to learn a lot of different things from people throughout the company and about the product as well.

What was your favorite part of interning at iManage?

• Elan Goldman: The fact I was able to work on tools that were actually being used by and in the company. That gave me a real sense of what it is like to be a software engineer.
• Rishika Ravindran: I was on a team that didn’t have closed doors. Everyone was very approachable and non-judgmental about my questions. They took the time to explain things, so I learned a lot. The team I worked on is very cross-collaborative. It’s been great finding out how my team works with so many others, especially through the team presentations we’ve gone through. I’ve been able to get new ideas for my own projects that I’ve been working on.
• Ethan Yoon: Getting to know my team. The trust center team is super small and everyone is within arm’s reach, so I can ask them questions about work, career, everything. It’s been great!

Describe your iManage internship in 3 words:

• Dennis Cherepanov: Fun. Informative. Interesting.
• Elan Goldman: Engaging. Collaborative. Stimulating.
• Katie Makarska: Insightful. Exciting. Fun!

What have you enjoyed most about the culture at iManage?

• Ethan Yoon: Everyone is interesting. I can understand what everyone brings to the table — technically and personality-wise. Skills are great, but it really matters who you are as a person as well.
• Elan Goldman: The open office space allows you to interact with people outside of your team. Even the CEO works in the same open room as the interns.
• Dennis Cherepanov: How calm it is — if I had to put it in a word. Everyone is working at their own pace. No one is afraid to ask for help or advice. There is a lot of collaboration between teams. I feel like I can reach out to anyone and they are willing to help.

What project(s) have you been working on?

• Elan Goldman: I worked on a tool that allows iManage to roll out software updates gradually to its customers. Before that, I worked on a dashboard to help engineers get insights from a database without putting in queries.
• Rishika Ravindran: I’m excited to talk about this! A search 10 analysis project: We are going deeper and understanding more about user search queries. We can make a statement about the different types of searches. We are drilling down to the analytics to make a better search, which makes a better customer experience. As I worked on it, I saw a lot of potential.
• Ethan Yoon: I worked on a Slack bot for the Trust Center team. It will be an internal tool for the Trust Center and Support Teams. It will be able to turn on and off tests, start, and mute them. It will be a way for people who don’t have access to the Trust Center code to access and change what clients are able to see. This way, our engineers on the team aren’t always the ones who have to respond to scheduled downtimes and repairs; instead, they can interact directly with the dashboard.

What does a typical day look like? 

• Katie Makarska: For me, since I worked for a lot of different teams, no day was the same. Some days I worked primarily on product owner responsibilities, like writing user stories and acceptance criteria. Other days, I focused more time on product management, where I did competitive analysis and solution research. Some days, I did design work, like ensuring the design system was fully accessible and thinking of creative user flows.
• Dennis Cherepanov: In general, when I arrived at the office, first thing I did was check Slack and my emails to see if there is anything important to work on right away. Then I started work on what was left over from the previous day: code leftover or a bug that was persistent. From 1:30-2:30 PM, we had a standup with our mentors – what’s working, what’s not, if we don’t understand something, or if we have questions on anything. From there, I started on new work from the standup or work I have prioritized from an overarching task, or I learned about something new.
• Rishika Ravindran: For office days, I had my time in the morning and took the bus in. I tried to get in earlier than 9 AM to get my coffee and romanticize my morning. I had a daily standup at 10 AM and 11 AM—catching up, giving updates, and getting feedback. I’d get feedback from the work I’ve done and start working on it. I took breaks, played ping-pong, and went out for lunch with my team or other interns.

What advice do you have for next year’s interns?

•  Rishika Ravindran: Don’t be afraid to ask questions. No one here will thinks they’re stupid. Even if someone thinks it’s a trivial question, they’ll still put in the time to give you a good, detailed answer.
• Katie Makarska: The most basic one is have fun and try to learn as much as you can. Learn from every meeting and presentation because you never know how it will help you in the future. Also do coffee chats – they have been great and super valuable, especially if you get some with more experienced professional in the field you want to work in.
•  Ethan Yoon:  Get to know your other interns. It is the best way to figure out what else happens at the company, but also get to know them socially as well. Take advantage of the experience. Ask a lot of questions. It can be hard to ask questions, especially if it seems like no one else is, but don’t be afraid to speak up! Projects and teams can be a little siloed, but overall everyone is working on the same goal, so it is good to figure out where you fit in.

If you have had an internship before, what is different about interning at iManage? What sets this experience apart?

• Ethan Yoon: I’ve never had a tech internship before, and this was my first hybrid environment. There were a lot of interns around the globe. iManage has done a good job of making sure they are connected with virtual trivia and the Global Intern Meetup.
• Connor Sheriff: Expectations versus reality. I expected to do a lot more grunt work, more “intern” stuff. But it’s so cool that I worked on a team and tried out new things!
•  Elan Goldman: How different it is than what I expected. I thought it would be more hierarchical in the collaboration within our team. I assumed that I would not be able to give my input on the tools/projects we worked on, and that was not the case.

A huge thank you to our iManage U Class of 2024! We miss your contagious energy and work contributions but we look forward to keeping in touch and seeing what you accomplish next!

Interested in joining the iManage U class of 2025? Apply here.