How to Learn Angular

Angular is a popular web development framework. Initially built by Google, Angular makes it easy for developers to change the contents of a web page using JavaScript. A developer, for instance, could use Angular to build a form. Upon submission, Angular could verify the contents of the form before it is sent to the server.

How do you learn Angular? That’s a good question. In this learning guide, we’re going to talk about the basics of Angular, what Angular could mean for your career, and where you can go to pick up some Angular development skills.

What is Angular?

Angular, which was released in 2012 by Google, is a development platform built using TypeScript, a program based on JavaScript. Using Angular, developers can manipulate the content of a page. Angular uses the model-view-controller method of programming. A big benefit of Angular is that you can change some parts or your pages without having to change a lot of code to make your pages support the Angular framework.

A big feature of Angular is directives, which let developers control the contents of a web page. Developers can create their own custom directives or use those which are already in Angular such as ng-model. Angular also supports components, like React, which introduces a more modular method of developing web pages. You can use and reuse components anywhere on a page, thus limiting repetition in your code.

Angular, like React, is ready to use out of the box. The Angular environment is easy to set up and as soon as you have installed Angular onto a page you are ready to start using the framework.

Jobs that Require Angular Skills

Angular is a front-end technology. Most people who use Angular are either front-end or full-stack web developers. Both of these job titles involve working a lot with the code that renders the front-end of a website. 

Back-end developers may need to know a bit of Angular in case they need to know exactly how something works on the front-end. But, back-end developers will not use Angular on a day-to-day basis.

What Companies Use Angular?

Companies around the world use the Angular technology to varying degrees. Here are a few companies that use Angular in their technology stacks:

• Google
• Snapchat
• Tinder
• AMazon
• Udemy
• Lyft
• Accenture
• ROBLOX

Angular competes with React, Backbone.js, Vue.js, and other frameworks too. Despite the popularity of these other frameworks, Angular has become a key part of many business’ tech stacks. If you learn Angular, you will have a skill you can use professionally for years to come.

Salary for Angular Developers

If you become an Angular developer, you can reach for a high salary. According to PayScale, the average Angular developer earns $72,248 per year. That is a good amount of money even for a job in technology. Developers in the top 75% earn about $95,000 which shows your Angular knowledge may be worth even more, depending on where you go to work and your seniority within an organization.

What Skills Do I Need to Master Angular

To learn Angular, you will need a strong understanding of JavaScript, the language upon which Angular is built. You should also know a bit about TypeScript, which is the framework Angular is based on. While you may not have to write very complex TypeScript code, this framework will certainly come up in your Angular learning.

In addition, you should feel comfortable with HTML and CSS. This is a given because Angular is a web development technology and all websites must include some HTML (and most sites include CSS, too).

You should also have a legitimate interest in learning Angular. This is not so much of a skill as it is a mindset. If you have not committed to learning Angular, you will find it easy to get distracted from your goal. You need to stay focused on your goal and remember that learning Angular is a journey, not a sprint.

Where to Learn Angular

There are many resources online designed to help budding Angular developers pick up the skills they need to know. Where should you begin learning? We cannot answer that question because everyone has their own learning preferences. But, we can give you some learning resources to check out. Keep reading to find some top Angular learning resources for beginners.

Angular Tutorial for Beginners: Learn Angular & TypeScript

• Author: Programming with Mosh
• Price: Free
• Type of Resource: Video

This video will introduce you to coding in ANgular and TypeScript. It walks you through how to create your first Angular and TypeScript application. You will also learn how to use the main features in Angular such as templates, components, and directives.

At the end of the video, you will be given a learning exercise to complete. This exercise will help you practice what you have learned in the course, which is important because the course covers a lot of ground in a short period of time.

Learn Angular – Full Tutorial Course

• Author: freeCodeCamp
• Price: Free
• Type of Resource: Video

freeCodeCamp is well-known for their full tutorials on various programming languages and technologies. In this 5.5 hour long video, you will learn what you ended to know about coding with Angular. This course covers a lot of topics, from components to lifecycle hooks to decorators.

Later in the course, you will work on building a login app using the knowledge you have acquired. You will then use MongoDB and Node.js to make your Angular login application functional.

Front-End JavaScript Frameworks: Angular

• Author: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Price: Free
• Type of Resource: Course

This course teaches the basics of working with TypeScript to develop Angular applications. Lessons are split up into four weeks in which you will learn some beginner Angular concepts such as components, services, and routing.

This course comes with dozens of reading materials you can use to reinforce your knowledge. By the end of this course, you can implement your own single page applications in Angular. You will also graduate with an understanding of the main features of Angular.

Getting Started with Angular 2+

• Author: Ryan Chenkie and Angularcasts (on Udemy)
• Price: Free
• Type of Resource: Course

Over 60,000 students have taken this free course. It walks you through creating a basic Angular application. This course is ideal for people who learn by working through real-world examples rather than reading about theory. You will learn about topics like using the Angular CLI, the main parts of an Angular app, and implementing an interface in Angular.

Angular: Getting Started

• Author: Deborah Kurata (on Pluralsight)
• Price: Pluralsight membership ($29 / month)
• Type of Resource: Course

This course contains almost six hours of video content covering the basics of Angular. In this course, you will learn about components, templates, data binding, dependency injection, and other core features of the Angular technology. 

By the time you complete this course, you should feel comfortable building your own application using Angular.

Angular Tutorials

There are many websites with detailed Angular tutorials. These tutorials are useful if you need to revise a concept or if you prefer to learn by following along with an article rather than a video. We conducted some research online and found some of the best Angular tutorials for beginners. We have listed these tutorials below.

Getting started with Angular

The “Getting started with Angular” tutorial on the official Angular website is a great place to begin your learning journey. The tutorial teaches you how to build an e-commerce site with Angular. In this tutorial, you will learn about the theory behind various Angular concepts as well as how to use that theory in the e-commerce application you build.

There are various other tutorials and best practice references on the Angular website, too, accessible through the sidebar of the Angular documentation.

W3Schools AngularJS Tutorials

W3Schools has a tutorial series on working with Angular. In this tutorial series, you will learn about topics like expressions, models, scopes, and filters. In the traditional W3Schools style, each article contains code snippets and text that gets straight to the point. You will see very little preamble in W3Schools’ tutorials so you can focus on learning what matters most.

Angular University Blog

The Angular University Blog contains detailed tutorials on various aspects of working with Angular, from using the NgRx entity to building custom form validators. Most blog posts last between five and 30 minutes, exploring in detail the topic at hand. Many tutorials include tables of contents which make it easy to see exactly what you will learn in a tutorial before you read further.

A Guide to Learning Angular Basics

To become proficient in Angular, there are quite a few things you need to learn. We have done some research and found the most important fundamental concepts for aspirint Angular developers to know. Once you have learned these concepts, you can move on to more advanced materials.

Here are some most-know concepts for anyone who want to learn Angular:

• Setup. Before you can build features with Angular, you will need to know how to add Angular to a web page.
• Components. Angular uses components which break up code for particular parts of a web page into different parts. You should know how to create, use, and manipulate a component in Angular.
• Directives. Directives add new functionalities to your applications. You should learn how to use the built-in Angular directives and how to create your own.
• Templates. Templates are HTML code which will display as part of a web page. You should feel confident using templates in your code.
• Forms. Angular is often used to build dynamic web forms. You should spend some time learning about how to use Angular to build web forms.
• Testing. How do you make sure your Angular code is functional before your application runs? The answer lies in testing. You should feel comfortable testing your code using Angular’s unit testing protocols.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Angular?

You can learn how to code with Angular in about three months, depending on how much time you devote to learning. This number assumes you learn for an hour a day for those three months. But everyone learns at a different pace. If you want to use Angular in a professional environment, you will need to spend about six month studying the technology first before you are ready for an entry-level job using Angular.

Should I Learn Angular?

Angular is a popular web development technology, used around the world for various sorts of web applications. If you want to become a professional front-end web developer, learning Angular is a good bet because the technology is well-used in professional environments.

Learning Angular will take you some time and there may be frustration down the line, a feeling you should be used to if you have learned any programming technology before. But this frustration will be worth it as Angular developers command strong salaries.

Ask yourself whether you can see yourself developing the front-end of websites. Do you feel like you need to learn a web development framework? Why? If you can answer all of these questions and you are confident Angular is a good choice for you, go ahead and start learning Angular. You will have plenty of company.