He Threw a Javelin Into the Record Books Using YouTube. She's Building Apps the Same Way.
Julius Yego during the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. attribution: Erik van Leeuwen (bron: Wikipedia)., GFDL http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html, via Wikimedia Commons
Julius Yego, who won gold at the 2015 World Championships, taught himself javelin technique by watching YouTube videos on a borrowed internet connection. Daisy Wanjiku of Unbroken learned to code the same way and ended up somewhere neither of them could have imagined.
Growing up in Kenya, Wanjiku first encountered a computer in fourth grade, on an old HP tower in a primary school lab. It was slow. It crashed. It hooked her anyway. "I still remember using those simple computers, but they sparked something in me," she said. She carried that curiosity through high school, building on it year after year until she had something like a plan.
The plan was to pursue a Computer Science degree. Then the money wasn't there, and the plan went with it. "It was disappointing because I had a clear plan, and suddenly it wasn't possible," Wanjiku said. "But instead of seeing it as the end, I looked for another path. I realized that where you start doesn't have to decide where you finish."
“The school gave us maybe fifty percent of the skills. The rest, you have to find yourself.”
She found a six-month program run by a tech NGO for underprivileged students: three months of computer basics, followed by design and web development. She enrolled. Whatever the classroom didn't cover, she sought it out on her own, late at night, on a borrowed laptop. JavaScript tutorials. Python documentation. She closed the gap between what the instructors taught and what employers wanted, one video at a time.
"A lot was self-taught. I'd watch video tutorials, read documentation, build projects on a borrowed laptop, make mistakes, fix them, and repeat," Wanjiku said. "The school gave us maybe fifty percent of the skills. The rest, you have to find yourself."
She graduated at the top of her cohort and earned a full scholarship to continue in a diploma program, where she's now sharpening her Python skills and expanding into React and C++. "The scholarship proved those extra hours mattered," she said. "It provided financial support and showed someone believed I could do more."
“I know what it’s like to rewrite plans and how powerful it feels when someone believes in you and gives you a chance.”
Ask her about programming languages, and she goes straight to Python, not because it came first but because of what it can do. HTML and JavaScript gave her a foundation. Python is where she started building things with weight. Spacer, the property rental platform she built as a school project, runs the entire transaction end-to-end: listing a space, booking it, and paying for it, all through code she wrote herself. Next are React and C++, and after that, mobile.
Today, Wanjiku is Director of Digital Solutions at the Unbroken app, a trauma-informed career platform for people who've lost their jobs and don't know what comes next. She didn't approach that work as an outsider.
"There was a time everything changed," she said. "I lost my job and rebuilt from the ground up."
Unbroken was what lay on the other side of that. "It became a turning point," she said. "Joining the team gave me stability, purpose, and renewed confidence in my career and myself."
She now writes code for people standing where she once stood. "This work is personal," she said. "I know what it's like to rewrite plans and how powerful it feels when someone believes in you and gives you a chance. If my technology helps even one person find hope or a new opportunity, I know I am building something that matters."
Yego watched grainy videos of Czech throwers and became a world champion no Kenyan javelin thrower had produced before him. Wanjiku watched tutorials on a borrowed laptop and became someone who builds software for people trying to do exactly what she did: start over, with whatever's in reach.
About Daisy Wanjiku
As Director of Digital Solutions for the Unbroken app, Wanjiku leads software development to help displaced workers rebuild their lives. Born and raised in Kenya, she built a strong foundation through years of self-directed learning and a competitive six-month web development program. She graduated at the top of her cohort and earned a full scholarship to continue her studies. She is currently pursuing a diploma in software development, focusing on Python and expanding into React and C++. She believes the best education is the one you never stop giving yourself.
