As a software developer, why would I want to get better at software estimation? At best, it means that I can give a rough comparison of the engineering effort r

As a software developer, why would I want to get better at software estimation? At best, it means that I can give a rough comparison of the engineering effort required for different projects, which means that I get projects with a positive ROI (which still takes office politics to translate into actual career success, but it's still helpful). At worst, it yields power and control over my work life for no good benefit. I'd get good at estimating in a hurry if you flipped the locus of control. Make management generate importance points, give me freedom to choose projects given importance points, and make importance points per engineer-week a Key Performance Indicator.