Barrett graduated from the University of San Diego in May 2018 after majoring in Finance. Before UGF, he worked as an intern for La Jolla-based hedge fund HAV Capital (now FGP), working on equity, commodity, and merger arbitrage analysis. Barrett helped manage USD's Student Managed Fund, where he provided investment recommendations for the university's $200k fund. He was a key member of USD's 2017 team for the National Investment Banking Competition which took 2nd place out of 330 competing schools. After graduating, Barrett joined D.A. Davidson full-time as an Investment Banking Analyst.

Over his year at the fund, Barrett moved from intern to associate to senior associate. He worked on deals of portfolio companies Wonder Workshop, 23andMe, Poshmark, Enjoy, Fair, Primary.com, and Spotify, while he was the lead on Pinterest. He credits UGF with growing his skillset and providing high level exposure with which few other internships can compare.