In your time browsing the web, you have certainly interacted with a website that uses Angular. While only 0.3% of all websites use this technology, they include some of the biggest in the world, like YouTube and Google. 

Despite the hype around other frontend frameworks/libraries like React and Vue.js, Angular is still a widely used framework, with around 17% of developers using the technology professionally. In this article, we are going to explain what it means to be an Angular developer, how to become an Angular developer, and all the details regarding work opportunities and salary. 

What is an Angular developer?

An Angular developer is a frontend developer who builds TypeScript-based web applications using the Angular framework. TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript, used for building large scale applications. Angular developers could also be considered JavaScript and TypeScript developers as this is the foundation for the framework they are using. 

A Vue.js developer, React developer, and Ember developer are all subsets of a JS developer as well. These developers work exclusively with the frontend functions of web applications. Frontend refers to the User Interface, so anything you might interact with when you visit a website (including the appearance). 

What does Angular mean?

Angular is a Typescript-based framework for building web applications. Essentially, it’s a tool to help frontend developers create websites faster with modern user interfaces. When you use a web framework, like Angular, you have access to pre-written code and public libraries. With these resources, you can create a great looking frontend without having to code every little detail from scratch — which is time-consuming and costly. 

What does an Angular developer do?

Since an Angular developer is a Frontend developer, they will have the same duties and responsibilities. The difference is that an Angular dev might be working with different technologies to developer the UI of a web application.

Overall, an Angular developer blends creative UI/UX design with technical TypeScript programming to create applications. Their day-to-day duties might include (not limited to): 

• Programming new features: Writing code using Angular principles to build new features for the application. The bulk of the work for an Angular developer lies here (though that might be dependent on seniority and experience).
  
  
• Updating & maintaining existing code: With new updates and features, code can sometimes break or have bugs. It’s the developer's job to solve these issues to make sure the application is working smoothly, this includes debugging and testing, plus working through tickets the development team receives.
  
  
• Creative design: Frontend design is not just down to the developer, there are a lot of people involved. In some companies, you might have UI/UX designers or product designers — these are graphic designers who create the blueprints for webpages. Angular developers work closely with these designers to ensure the finished product is as close to the ‘blueprints’ as possible.
  
  
• Other: You will see on job postings things like “collaborating with the backend team” or “produces code of high quality.” These are a given in any role. Outside of coding, there will be a lot of back and forth between various parties. 

How to become an Angular developer

Let’s say you are interested in learning Angular and finding an employer to pay you for your Angular skills. Where should you start that journey? Roadmap has a comprehensive overview, which is going to be more detailed than our explanation, so that’s probably the best place to start. But if you want a quick overview to get the idea, the background of a developer, here it is:

• Education: Almost half of professional developers have a Bachelor’s degree — it’s not entirely necessary, but foundational skills in maths and engineering are incredibly helpful since it is the logic that underpins software development. Thankfully, frontend development is more concerned with visual design and user experience. So the industry doesn’t always require a degree (but you should know that it is often preferred).
  
  
• Learn the basics: Before you start actually learning the fundamentals of Angular, you need to learn basic scripting languages like HTML and CSS. There are many courses that will guide you through the frontend learning process. After you master HTML and CSS, it’s time to learn JavaScript and then TypeScript. You should also consider learning visual design concepts.
  
  
•  Learn Angular: Once you’ve got a solid understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — that includes having built some apps yourself — it’s time to start learning Angular principles and familiarising yourself with its library. You can take a course on this and use the Angular documentation. As always, the best way to learn is by doing. Use Angular to build some web applications.
  
  
• Get paid / real world experience: The first and hardest step to getting your foot in the door is convincing someone to pay you for your work. The same goes for contributing to the codebase of a website. Freelancing is a great option to start out, it won’t pay well, but it will give ample opportunity to build your portfolio with real world examples. If you’ve created a feature or given a website a facelift — these are great examples for employers.
  
  
• Create a portfolio: Hopefully by the time you’ve learnt the basics of frontend development, you’ll have half a dozen examples of programs you designed and created. These will eventually be replaced by better real world examples, but if you’ve got nothing else, use these to jumpstart your portfolio. Remember, Angular developers are concerned with UI, so your personal website needs to look good, as it’s a reflection of your skills and tastes. Inspiration here.
  
  
• Apply for junior roles: This step is going to be very disheartening, as you’ll face a lot of rejection and feel as though you’re wasting your time. Keep pushing, finding your first full-time job can take months, so plan accordingly. The important thing is to keep building during that time. If it takes you three months to find a job, you should be a much better developer after that three months. You can take on freelance work or work for free in the interim (internship). 

Demand for Angular developer 

It’s hard to access the market demand for Angular developers specifically, but we do know that the need for software developers (including fronted devs) is expected to grow. Not only that, many Western nations in the EU or USA are experiencing a shortage of skilled software engineers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job projection for web developers and digital designers (frontend) is expected to grow 16% over the next ten years (2022-32). It’s important to be mindful of the implications of AI which has the potential to disrupt these projections.

Angular developer salary 

Taking the average data from Talent.com, an Angular developer earns roughly: £50,000 in the UK, $120,000 in the US, and €52,000 in Germany. The average salary for frontend developers (worldwide) is $59,970. Salary is going to be dependent on experience and location — the US being the highest paid. If you’d like to get a better sense of what Angular developers are earning, this is a helpful thread with real developers sharing their income. 

Angular developer jobs

If you are looking for an Angular developer job or to find a talented developer for your company, specialised job boards are the way to go. You can check out our list of job boards which are all tech specific and will help you land a great hire or find your next Angular job. If you are in Europe, consider signing up for WeAreDevelopers, we work with some of the best companies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — and have help thousands of developers find new jobs in Western Europe.