Not sure if I want to know about a side-gig?

[AlwaysBeenASaver]

I just got an email from a manager at my last job that I basically did almost all my work for, although was not technically my manager (in corporate terms, her department was a "customer" of my manager.) She wanted to know if I'd be interested in a side project just for her group, not involving my former manager/team.

The thing is, a little extra cash sounds nice and would also give me an opportunity to have earned income, thus fluff up my Roth a bit more. However, it would also mean more taxes to pay, and the biggie is it would take away some of my precious SUMMER. And also, just getting this email made me start stressing about things like: wait, she doesn't have any servers for me to do a project on, how could this be done w/o my former manager, when my former manager owns all the servers (or, did as of a year ago when I FIREd.) I'm tempted to blow it off (nicely, because I like this person), but not sure?

I'm tempted to ask her what the project is and how long she thinks it will take, but not sure if I even want to open that conversation. I'm also curious why my former team isn't doing whatever this project is.

[asiljoy]

Did you enjoy working with her? If so, I'd ask all the questions you outlined above to get more information and then evaluate. If not, I'd politely say no and enjoy the summer.

Paying more taxes hasn't ever stopped me from trying to make more money, but giving up free time has. You'd need to do the cost-benefit analysis on that one yourself.

[soccerluvof4]

I don't think having a conversation with her can hurt. If you don't like what she has to say you can simply say I am not interested BUT might be worth at least listening. You might leave yourself always wondering.

[ender]

Ask for a number or terms you would not turn down. If that number is way too much for them to pay, so be it. Maybe you say you only are willing to work two days a week for $500/hr. I don't know.

Don't "settle" on making this decision about not-enough-money-to-really-convince-you. Only "settle" if it's an amount you are happy with. Make the decision, "if they pay me what I want then I will, otherwise no" and then don't worry. If no amount will, just say something to that effect.

[gardenarian]

Well, she wants you to work, I think you should try and set the terms you want. What would be the drawbacks of opening the conversation? Say outright, you want no obligations over the summer. Good luck!

[AlwaysBeenASaver]

I sent her a reply and told her I hadn't been planning to work this summer and have many plans for my time, but that I'm curious about the project, and I sent a list of questions to find out how time consuming this will be, what the work is, and so on. I know this will be summer work if I accept it because it's needed by August. But what I don't know is whether this is a small 1 day type project or a larger weeks or month long project.

[SwordGuy]

It's pretty much always good ju ju to be polite and professional, even when turning down business.

And "I would like to help you out, but I am already committed for the time period you need." is a completely true statement based on what you've told us.

If pressed as to what you are committed to, "It's not appropriate to divulge a client's business plans without their expression permission." is another perfectly true statement.   It may have nothing to do with what you are doing or why you don't want to tell them, but it remains a true statement that shuts down that line of conversation. :)

[Metric Mouse]

It's pretty much always good ju ju to be polite and professional, even when turning down business.

And "I would like to help you out, but I am already committed for the time period you need." is a completely true statement based on what you've told us.

If pressed as to what you are committed to, "It's not appropriate to divulge a client's business plans without their expression permission." is another perfectly true statement.   It may have nothing to do with what you are doing or why you don't want to tell them, but it remains a true statement that shuts down that line of conversation. :)

This is wonderful.  I sometimes struggle to turn down job offers, and these lines are perfect!