Estimations and deadlines

One critical division between mid-level coders and seniors coders: willingness to set a deadline for themselves.

"When do you think you'll have that done?"

Senior developer: "Next Friday, assuming there's no surprises with the vendor feed."

Junior or mid-level developer: "Um, I don't know yet."

I understand the reluctance to give a date. I understand that unexpected problems arise. I also understand that managers often try to hold you to your date, even if it's a "wild guess."

Here's the deal though:

1. Your manager should help you create more time if you need it.
2. The more skilled you are, the better able you are to anticipate currently unknown but potential problems, and build that into your time.
3. The more skilled you are, the better able you are to articulate what potential delays might occur such that your users, fellow developers, and manager understand why you're saying the work will take two weeks instead of one.
4. The more skilled you are, the more likely you are to give deadlines that you can meet or beat most of the time.

Don't fall into the trap of believing that being clever enough to wiggle out of giving a due date is a skill that shows your experience. In fact, the opposite is true: strong developers give dates.