Bengaluru Techie Quits Google Over Side-Project Dispute, Calls Exit a ‘Purely Bitter Moment’

A Bengaluru-based software engineer has announced his exit from Google, describing the departure as a “purely bitter moment” triggered by a conflict over his independent work outside the company.

The engineer, Arpit Bhayani, shared the development in a post on X, saying he had no plans to leave the tech giant but was compelled to do so after issues related to his side projects escalated into a legal matter.

According to Bhayani, the conflict arose due to his involvement in creating educational content through online courses and YouTube videos alongside his role at Google. Once the matter reached the company’s legal team, he said there was little room left for resolution.

“I had to leave because of a conflict with my outside work, and once legal gets involved, there is not much you can do,” he wrote, adding that the decision came unexpectedly and was emotionally difficult.

Emotional exit from a valued role

Bhayani expressed deep disappointment over leaving a domain he was passionate about, particularly his work on in-memory databases. He noted that he was part of a highly collaborative team and felt there was still meaningful work left to be done.

He also reflected positively on his time at the company, stating that he had worked at Google in two separate stints, both of which played a significant role in shaping him as an engineer and professional.

“I will forever be grateful to Google for giving me two stints. Both were extremely fulfilling and helped me grow as an engineer and operator,” he said, while wishing success to his former colleagues working on Google’s Memorystore platform. 

Online reactions and debate

Bhayani’s post sparked a strong response on social media, with many users questioning how educational content creation could be considered a conflict of interest. Several commenters noted that his tutorials and videos had benefited a wide community of engineers, including those working at major tech firms.

Others expressed surprise that such a dispute could arise after years of balancing corporate responsibilities with content creation, calling the situation unfortunate and reflective of changing corporate norms around side projects.

At the time of publishing, no official response had been issued by Google regarding the matter.