The types of problems one becomes focused on are different between the two libraries - with Angular, the problem often is how to best architect an application.

The types of problems one becomes focused on are different between the two libraries - with Angular, the problem often is how to best architect an application. The lower level stuff are not as difficult once you familiarize yourself with Angular, although that admittedly has a high upfront cost of having to familiarize yourself with it. React takes less opinions than Angular, thus leaving more for the user to determine how he/she wants to solve it. Fundamentally, React is more sound in that regard since it doesn't dominate everything as strongly - it is pretty clear that the Angular team agrees in this regard, and why they are moving to modularize everything in 2.0 (and why some formally core pieces such as the router were split off in 1.x). Using either library helps with understanding of javascript and the browser - unless you contribute to/author angular components, React probably gives more precisely since it doesn't hide as much of the complexity. My own experience with Angular has been the deeper I delve into using it, the more I find myself moving towards using pure javascript in creating abstract classes while having the Angular-specific code be extensions of those classes - this pattern is transferable between frameworks/libraries, and likely an understated best practice when working in the browser.