So, when Hao Yang became a member in 2022, he wasted no time in diving deep into building relationships with the YSMOU community and networking with the fellow seafarers, gleaning from them lessons about trends in the maritime industry to the stuff of life.

“It feels good to speak the same language with a close-knit community,” he remarked. “And of course, the Members Monthly set meal at Lighthouse Bistro is unbeatable.”

Hao Yang’s decision to embark on a maritime journey started with flipping a coin—literally, when he was a secondary school student.

“It was either architecture or marine engineering. I flipped the coin and got my answer.” He also recalled googling “highest paying jobs” and discovered a career in the maritime was among the top in the scale. 

That was enough to drive him to enroll at Singapore Maritime Academy. It was only in his third year at Singapore Poly that he realised he had to take his studies and his future seriously.

“It was an entirely different world as a cadet wearing a boiler suit working in a 50-degree engine room,” he recalled.

While a few of his course mates gave up after roughing it out at sea, Hao Yang chose to persevere through and stay on.