[seneca]

> I am trying to think of one way it was useful to tell you that, but I can’t.

It's useful if it's a warning that OP isn't meeting expectations. Getting that feedback before a formal review, when there is still time to turn it around, is beneficial.

I've seen junior engineers be blindsided during a review more than once. They go in thinking they're doing great, because they've gotten no incremental feedback and lack the experience necessary to guage on their own, and then hear they're not cutting it. Getting this feedback before review time (and preferably even earlier than OP did) is good, even if it hurts to hear.

Obviously that feedback should have gone through their manager though. OP's manager should have rescheduled this meeting if they couldn't make it, since they probably already knew the feedback was negative.