u/Low_Still_1304

Context:

I am a mid level software engineer in a team of mostly senior engineers.

I was put in a position to basically own one of our main systems and lead engineering efforts around a key service that adds a lot of business value.

Question:

My goal is to get to senior engineer, and Ive communicated that with my manager. In a 1:1 meeting recently, my manager was basically telling me to determine a new path of work from an engineering perspective now that the new service I spoke of above is more stable (less of the super rapid iteration that you get in the initial stages).

During the conversation he brought up another senior engineer X and said “if I put X on this project he’d have a body of improvements to work on within a month”.

I’m not sure how to take this to be honest. I don’t know if he’s trying to motivate me, or is threatening to pull me off the project and replace me.

He hasn’t given me negative feedback before, and these instructions have shifted from the initial stages. Initially the instruction was basically to follow the product reps in what they said was a priority.

I don’t feel like comparison to others is a good motivator for me, so if he was trying to motivate me he failed miserably lol. I felt like I was doing well as all feedback thus far has been positive. Ive been busting my ass on it too. My gut reflex feels like saying “then put X on it”.

Anyway, do you guys feel like from a managers perspective he was trying to motivate me or vaguely tell me to get good?