I'm a mostly-backend dev that's been pressed into service on the frontend recently and I've worked on React and on Angular. In my experience, I like the React

I'm a mostly-backend dev that's been pressed into service on the frontend recently and I've worked on React and on Angular. In my experience, I like the React way of defining components and functionality a lot better. The errors that Angular spits out from the HTML-templates are difficult to parse. There's also an unfortunate combination of a fractured community and incomplete first party documentation that makes Angular hard to ramp up on. That said, Angular has a huge advantage that has made developing in it a lot faster for me. It's got everything right there. Angular doesn't have unique functionality, but it starts you off with a standard set of design patterns that stand you in good stead. React is just a frontend and when you're new to the space you don't know what else you need. Frequently, the productivity gain of not having to think about how to solve a problem is greater than solving the problem the "right" way. Realistically, most teams solve this problem by having a senior team member who can pick technologies and design patterns. I haven't had that luxury on this last project, so I appreciate the Angular ecosystem. Javascript is great, but it's still very wild-west like.