About Zeroth Round
Built from Both Sides of the Gap.
Zeroth Round was created for the moment between learning about a technology career and being trusted to perform one.
Our mission
To make realistic technology-workplace experience more accessible before someone’s first opportunity depends on already having it.
Honesty
Clear expectations without inflated promises. Participants understand exactly what they are gaining and what they still need to develop.
Transparency
Participants understand what they are learning, producing, and still need to develop. No hidden gaps, no false confidence.
Purpose
Every experience should move someone toward clearer direction and meaningful opportunity — regardless of their starting point.
Our learning philosophy
Understanding a workplace is a practiced skill, not a lesson.
Experience before evaluation
People learn a workplace by being inside one. Our programs put participants in a simulated technology team rather than describing one to them.
Context over content
Knowing a tool matters less than knowing why a team reaches for it, who depends on the output, and what happens when it is wrong.
Produce something explainable
Participants leave with work they can walk an employer through — not a certificate that speaks for them.
Honest feedback, early
Critique inside a simulation costs nothing. Critique in a first job costs a career's worth of confidence.
Who we serve
People entering the field — and the organizations helping them get there.
Students
Secondary and postsecondary learners deciding whether technology fits them at all.
Career changers
Professionals with real work experience who need role clarity before committing.
Recent graduates
People holding a credential and still missing workplace context.
Technology-curious beginners
Anyone who has been told to get experience without being shown where to get it.
Schools and colleges
Institutions needing structured, documentable Work-Based Learning.
Workforce and community organizations
Partners serving people who need an accessible first step.
Founder
Ashish Sharma
Ashish Sharma entered technology through a nontraditional path after beginning his career outside the industry. Over 12 years, he built experience across technology delivery, automation, and engineering leadership in Healthcare, Banking, and Aviation — while completing his bachelor’s degree and MBA.
He understands what it feels like to enter technology without a clear map — and what organizations expect once someone joins a real project. Zeroth Round is built on both halves of that experience: the view from outside the door, and the view from the team waiting on the other side of it.
“I am not teaching theory. I am opening the door I once needed.”
Why Zeroth Round?
The zeroth round is the stage before the traditional first round — the preparation, discovery, context, and experience that should happen before a person is evaluated for a job. Zeroth Round creates that stage.
Community partnerships and impact
Access should not depend on who you already know.
Zeroth Round is committed to making technology career readiness accessible regardless of background, income, or connections. Through the Zeroth Round Access Fund, a portion of every community event ticket funds sponsored program access for individuals who could not otherwise afford to participate.
The Zeroth Round Access Fund
Applications for sponsored access are open to Southern Indiana residents through zerothround.com.
Vision for the future
Where this goes next.
More rooms, more entry points
Expanding cohorts, delivery formats, and community events so a first exposure to technology work is never more than a short step away.
Deeper employer involvement
Growing the number of practitioners who shape scenarios and meet participants, so what happens in the simulation keeps matching the industry.
Access that scales with us
Every community event feeding the Access Fund, so growth and affordability move together instead of against each other.