Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland

Yang Ji’s interest in vessel design was sparked by writing about historical naval ships for online games.

“It’s the reason why I went into naval architecture in the first place. I wanted to know more – I was not satisfied with just having surface-level knowledge of ships.”

This week he graduates with a Diploma of Technology in Naval Architecture and has plans to continue his education in September.

The three-year program offered by the School of Maritime Studies focuses on designing large ships, small craft and floating structures.

Discovering ship design

Originally from Toronto, Mr. Ji has a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Toronto and he completed a one-year Bachelor in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 2014.

His plan was to become a teacher, but decided classroom teaching wasn’t for him. The following year he started creating naval history content on YouTube for people playing World of Warships. That work continued for the next five years.

“During that time I really dug into the history of Second World War era warships and their design.”

He decided to learn more about ship design than the history books provided and discovered MI’s naval architecture program.

“Overall, it was a very good experience and you do learn to work hard in this program.”

He credits his good experiences to the instructors.

“The naval architecture program been more enjoyable because of the instructors – the fact that they are open, communicative, patient and willing to chat about stuff. I think they really make the program.”

Learn more about his experiences.