What’s Moving You: Chris Barrett

As a Design Engineer, Chris Barrett spends his working hours devising solutions to technical problems that would leave others scratching their heads. Chris has spent four years at Eaglestone, demonstrating a complete understanding of the role each tiny piece plays in the bigger picture, and also visualizing how new technology can best be implemented in existing systems. Chris brings the same mindset to his passion outside of the office—building and repairing computers.

Assembling computers isn’t a hobby that’s very inclusive to beginners. There’s a steep learning curve that is tough to scale. The challenge, however, is what initially appealed to Chris. Now that he’s more than familiar with what it takes to get a piece of hardware up and running, he can appreciate the long-term benefits of a task that can be quite frustrating in its initial stages. “I’m always learning something new,” said Chris. “The more knowledge you gain, the deeper your understanding of the whole process becomes.”

With the smallest information contributing to overall comprehension of the master plan, Chris believes that his work outside of the office goes hand-in-hand with whatever he’s tackling at Eaglestone. “No matter what problem you’re working on, it will always build your understanding of how things work,” said Chris. “Even the most basic thing can help you figure out a really advanced problem.”

Outside of furthering his problem solving, Chris’ work with computers has also allowed him to explore the latest hardware. “When you assemble the machine yourself, you don’t have to worry about getting stuck with stock parts,” said Chris. “You’re able to buy custom components that allow for more flexibility. You can save money, get faster processing and learn about stuff that’s on the cutting-edge.”

The constantly evolving world of hardware is also what keeps Chris engaged with the hobby. Though he’s gone on to build four computers, he still thinks of his first machine as his favorite. “It’s my passion project that’s never over,” said Chris. “There’s always new hardware being developed. I just keep on upgrading piece-by-piece.”