Jaana Dogan Shocked by AI Coding Tool | One Hour vs One Year

When Jaana Dogan Was Shocked by AI: One Hour of Coding That Took a Year

Artificial Intelligence is moving fast—but sometimes, even the people building AI are left speechless. A powerful example of this came recently when Jaana Dogan, a Principal Engineer at Google, shared an experience that shocked developers across the world.
Her words were simple, honest, and serious:
“I’m not joking.”
What followed was a moment that clearly showed how dramatically AI-powered coding has evolved.
Who Is Jaana Dogan?
Jaana Dogan is a Principal Engineer at Google, working closely on the Gemini API, one of Google’s most important AI platforms. With years of deep experience in large-scale systems and AI infrastructure, she is not someone who gets impressed easily.
That’s exactly why her statement carried so much weight in the tech community.
The AI Coding Experiment That Changed Everything
Out of curiosity and professional interest, Dogan decided to test Claude Code, an AI-powered coding assistant developed by Anthropic.
She gave it a problem related to distributed agent orchestrators—a highly complex system that coordinates multiple AI agents working together. This kind of problem usually takes:
Months of architectural discussions
Multiple failed attempts
Large engineering teams
At Google, her own team had been working on this exact challenge for nearly one year, and even then, there was no final agreed-upon design.
To test Claude Code fairly, Dogan:
Wrote a simple problem description
Used only three paragraphs
Avoided any internal Google data
Used publicly known ideas only
The result?
Within one hour, the AI generated a solution that closely matched what Google engineers had built over an entire year.
Not Perfect, But Unbelievably Fast
Dogan clearly stated that the AI output was not perfect. It still needed refinement and improvement.
But that wasn’t the point.
The real shock was:
The speed
The structure
The depth of understanding
What once took months of planning appeared in minutes. That’s when the reality of AI coding truly hit home.
A Message for AI Skeptics
Instead of exaggerating AI’s power, Dogan gave grounded advice to those who doubt AI coding tools:
Try them in areas where you already have deep expertise.
Only then, she believes, can people truly understand how capable—and how disruptive—these tools have become.
Does Google Use Claude Code?
Many users asked whether Google uses Claude Code internally.
Dogan clarified:
Claude Code is allowed only for open-source projects
It is not permitted for Google’s internal systems
When asked when Gemini would reach a similar level, she replied confidently that Google is working hard on improving both the models and the supporting infrastructure.
AI Is Not a Competition, It’s Progress
One of the most refreshing parts of Dogan’s response was her mindset. She openly praised Claude Code and acknowledged strong innovation—even from competitors.
According to her, AI development is not a zero-sum game. Recognizing good work helps push the entire ecosystem forward.
How Fast AI Coding Has Evolved
Dogan also reflected on the rapid evolution of AI-assisted programming:
Earlier: AI completed single lines of code
Then: AI handled full functions
Later: AI worked across multiple files
Now: AI can reason across entire codebases
She admitted that just a couple of years ago, she believed today’s capabilities were five years away.
They arrived much sooner.
Why This Moment Matters
This story is not just about one AI tool or one engineer. It highlights a deeper shift in software development:
Smaller teams can now do big-team work
Individual developers gain more creative power
Bureaucracy becomes a bigger bottleneck than coding
Speed and clarity matter more than scale
AI is no longer just assisting developers—it is becoming a serious collaborator.
Final Thoughts
Jaana Dogan’s experience doesn’t mean AI will replace engineers. But it clearly shows that the role of engineers is changing faster than expected.
AI is not the future anymore—it is the present.
And when a Google Principal Engineer says she’s stunned, it’s a signal the world should take seriously.