From TTC to MIT

You could say that Trident Technical College alum Tom Pinckney started attending college when he was about 10 years old. He would often go to work with his dad, who taught accounting at TTC, so that he could get access to the computers.

“I really liked playing around with computers, mostly games, but it was the beginning for me,” says Tom.

As he got older, he started sitting in on some of the computer programming classes and completing assignments from the classes, like writing programs to do payroll and other business tasks. He eventually decided he would just take all of his classes at Trident Tech, as opposed to traditional high school. He went on to take classes at the College of Charleston and then graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for undergrad and grad school.

“I like to tell people that Trident Tech taught me all of the practical things about programming and MIT taught me all the theoretical things, so between the two I was covered,” he laughs.

Tom is Senior Director of Engineering at eBay. He manages teams that build the company’s search, recommendations and computer vision products - 200 people across locations in San Jose, New York, Shanghai, Tel Aviv and Berlin. In 2008, he decided he wanted to give back to TTC and started a scholarship for programming students called the Top Programmer Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to one student each year who is majoring in computer programming and has received an A in two key programming classes.

“I really just wanted to help other people to develop programming skills with either a first career or perhaps a new mid-life career,” he says.

This year’s recipient of the Top Programmer scholarship is 56-year old Sherri Broyles, who is returning to school to pursue her degree in computer programming to help her in her accounting job. Like Tom, she wanted to learn how to write programs that will automate many of things she does in her job.

She says, ”Automation will help me provide support to my clients, many of whom are small business owners here in the Charleston area."

Eight TTC students have received the Top Programmer Scholarship since Tom started it in 2008, and he hopes that many more will be able to benefit from it.

He says, “When I receive a thank you letter from a scholarship recipient, it makes me feel as if I am truly making an impact. I am grateful for the education I received at Trident Tech and feel very fortunate that I can help others do the same.”

To learn more about TTC Foundation scholarships, click here.