Angular developers are in high demand. Angular uses remain at consistent highs, and its market position remains more popular than other JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, Popper and Bootstrap. If you have the necessary skill sets and education, the work opportunities are plentiful.
To set your career trajectory on the right path, you need to ace the interview. It is easy to search and apply for remote Angular developer jobs, so your meeting with a hiring manager or, in the case of EPAM Anywhere, a designated technical interviewer, is your chance to stand out.
In addition to Angular expertise, the interviewer will want to assess your abilities with HTML, CSS, TypeScript, software design, unit testing, and best engineering practices. From technical questions that measure raw talent to open-ended queries that evaluate your creative process, there is a lot to prepare for.
To help you land the job, we asked Yauhen Chaika, Lead Software Engineer, Certified Technical Interviewer, EPAM Anywhere, to explain every step of the interview process. Learn what Angular interview questions are asked and why, so you can prepare accordingly. Let’s walk through a mock Angular developer interview.
Due to the complexity of the Angular framework and its various applications, the interview usually starts with a background check. This first stage involves a series of questions that explore your previous experience and past success.
In particular, the interviewer wants to ensure you match the job description outlined in the hiring advert. Information about the libraries you are comfortable using, performance optimization, and preferred methodologies is easiest to evaluate through personal examples. The details you provide about previous projects will help the interviewer understand your technical faculties and work ethic.
“I personally start an interview by asking about the candidate's experience. That way we can talk about different aspects of his/her journey before gradually shifting into the technical part of an interview.”
Since Angular is a frontend tool, the initial questions in the background check are a good time for you to emphasize the fundamentals (i.e., design patterns, data structures, the difference between HTTP1 and HTTP2, etc). To gain full marks, sneak the fundamental topics into your answer to showcase your overall grasp of Angular.
Sample initial Angular interview questions
- What are the differences between Angular.js and Angular? When is it better than React?
- Name key Angular advantages (open-source, MVC pattern architecture, supported validations, clear syntax, etc.)
- Give examples of lifecycle hooks in Angular (ngOnChanges, ngafterviewinit, ngOnDestroy, ngafterviewchecked, ngdocheck, etc.)
- How do you add the Angular router to your application?
- When are uppercase and lowercase used in Angular?
- What’s the fundamental difference between Angular and JavaScript expressions?
- Which design patterns did you apply (intentionally or unintentionally) during your last project?
- Give an example of how your implementation of a client-side framework helped you effectively build a single page application.
Conceptual Angular interview questions and answers
With the background check completed, the interviewer will move away from questions about your work history and start to assess your practical competencies with Angular.
The following queries will measure your experience with a variety of scenarios and your knowledge of advanced Angular concepts. It is a way to measure your comprehension of the framework and your ability to efficiently utilize it.
“I often ask if a candidate has written an application from scratch, why they chose Angular, and the benefits Angular provides. Other questions in a similar vein might ask if you ever did version migrations or specific work completed with outside libraries.”
Any interviewer wants to uncover the limitations of a candidate; open-ended questions that require conceptual explanations related to Angular achieve that goal. Rely on your training, education, and expertise to guide your answers during this interview stage.
1. What are components in Angular?
Components are building blocks of Angular apps. Each Angular component consists of an HTML template (TemplateURL), a class, a CSS selector, and a component-specific stylesheet. You can create one with the Angular CLI or manually. Components make up Angular modules along with directives, services, and more.
2. What compilation types are there in Angular?
To answer this question, name Just-in-Time (JIT) compiling an application at runtime and Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compiling an app at build time. AOT compilation has become a standard from Angular 9 on.
3. What are the advantages of TypeScript over JavaScript?
Since Angular uses TypeScript, you might need to take a more in-depth look at this JS superset’s advantages. You may name a better developer experience, versatile compatibility and compilation capabilities, a great global community, and a short learning curve. Read more here about Typescript vs JavaScript.
4. What is the purpose of structural and attribute directives?
In general, directives are used in Angular to add a certain behavior to DOM elements or component instances. Structural directives, in particular, add or remove DOM elements, while attribute directives are used for changing the behavior or appearance of an element.
5. What are Angular templates and how are they used?
When answering this question, you might want to elaborate on the definition of templates as HTML views, ways to store them either inline or as external HTML template files, as well as such essentials as template expressions and template statements used to interact with binding target properties.
6. How do you declare a service in Angular?
Providing a service can occur through different approaches. Specifically, mention the use of providers to manage service objects when Angular needs to resolve a dependency. Use the question to compare and contrast the provideIn option approach vs providers array and mention which one supports tree shaking for performance optimization.
7. Did you ever use state management libraries?
The purpose here is to explain the benefits and drawbacks of using state management libraries compared to services.
“There is no correct answer, so it is ultimately an opinion question. I expect to hear the candidate's thoughts about this topic.”
There is a wealth of information online regarding state management in frontend development, so participate in online discussions and use any learned perspectives during your interview.
8. What is lazy loading?
Lazy loading as applied to Angular routing allows loading a web page feature modules in chunks instead of all at once, to make an application work faster.
9. What are Observables in Angular?
Observables help pass messages between Angular application parts and are used for event handling, asynchronous programming, and creating AJAX requests, among other use cases. They are also used in the RxJS (Reactive Extensions for JavaScript) library.
Technical Angular interview questions and answers
Third, you will receive plenty of technical Angular questions. Such queries are designed to directly test your knowledge — the interviewer will expect you to offer detailed explanations that demonstrate your core competencies. Answers to technical questions should show how efficiently you can create great user interfaces, write clean code, implement efficient business logic, and build functional web applications with Angular.
Yauhen has provided several technical Angular interview questions that he might ask. Use each question and answer as a launchpad for further research so that you can showcase your skills and pass the technical stage of the interview.
1. Explain how change detection functions in Angular.
When building a permanent application, Angular runs periodic checks to determine if the application state has changed. This ensures data edits are visible and re-rendered in the app view. In the interview, it is good to outline manual and asynchronous event triggers, explain how you would optimize performance since change detection can cause slowdowns, and relate any additional information about Zone.JS.
2. What are pipes?
Pipes take a data input value and format its output value. A pipe that uses any number of optional parameters to fine-tune the output is called a parameterized pipe.
They are highly useful because you can adjust what the users see across the entire application after a single declaration. To get full marks for such a question, be sure to describe how pipes are implemented and compare custom vs built-in pipes.
3. What are interceptors in Angular?
An interceptor is a type of service that executes pre-processing before an HTTP request. By intercepting both incoming and outgoing HTTP calls, you can modify any values, greatly reducing the need for repetitious code. Be sure to mention how you would implement interceptors (creating the class, dependency-injecting the class, etc).
4. Name the types of data binding in Angular
There are string interpolation, property binding that binds DOM properties of an HTML element to a component’s properties, event binding, and two-way data binding, each characterized by their own syntax (such as double curly braces) and data flow directions.
5. What is metadata?
Metadata is used to decorate a class and is represented as decorators. Json files can be used to output metadata information.
6. What is constructor? How is it different from ngOnInit?
Constructor is a method used to properly initialize a class and its subclasses. It’s typically used to set up dependency injection, while ngOnInit is a lifecycle hook indicating the completion of the component creation.
A sample practical task
After you have discussed your experience and displayed your technical proficiency, the interviewer will likely give you a practical task that demonstrates your hard skills. It is the ideal way to assess your specific expertise across standard hands-on applications.
The type of task you will be asked to complete depends on the role you're applying for. For an Angular developer, the test is commonly related to JavaScript.
“I do not ask much about the JS language. Instead, I have a dozen practical tasks, covering hoisting, array manipulations, promises, event loops, and closures. And for a finishing task, I would request a complex logical task that works as both a JavaScript and logical skills check of the candidate.”
Here is a practical task that Yauhen often asks potential hires to perform:
In web development, an API returns you a string. As a technical task, the candidate should find the most repetitive character in a particular string. For example, in the case of
you should return 'd' as your answer.
Since the task can be completed in a couple of ways (loops, counting occurrences, etc.), after watching the candidate execute the solution, the interviewer will evaluate the chosen method and discuss ways to improve it.
Development best practices
While it is natural to focus on the technical aspects of the interview, interviewers also put a significant amount of weight on your soft skills. As an Angular engineer, you will be part of a team, so communication, leadership, and an openness to training are indispensable.
To assess a candidate’s soft skills, Yauhen asks a series of questions about each potential hire’s development process. Test scenarios about developer best practices highlight how you can manage requirements, assess risk, perform client-facing interactions, handle stress, uphold system quality, and fix errors — tasks that involve other team members.
“Regarding the general development process, the questions would be divided into two parts: technical and soft. In the technical part, I ask about best practices for preserving code quality, while in the end, I ask about soft skills, such as working with clients.”
To ace this part of the interview, share your values, priorities, and preferred strategies. There are no wrong answers, as your unique vision helps the interviewer place you with like-minded individuals. Often, it is just about finding the right fit within the company environment, so be yourself.
“I just recommend you avoid overthinking before the interview. You'll be less stressed that way. Just be who you are.”
Q: Name the tools and processes you applied to preserve code quality in a previous project.
A: If possible, refer back to a problem you located and addressed on a past application build. Give details about your review strategy, problem resolution, cross-department teamwork, and why you chose a specific tool (e.g., Linters, Prettier, Git hooks, etc.).
Q: Which branching strategy did you use? Do you know any other strategies?
A: A branching strategy depicts how a development team approaches the use of branches in the creation process. A version control system allows for collaborative development, but with multiple members working on the same source code, errors or incorrect changes can occur. To manage that, the team implements a branching strategy.
List some possible branching strategies (Gitflow, environmental, trunk, etc.), but also be sure to announce how they can contribute to or deter continuous delivery. List positive characteristics of your preferred strategy, and compare them to other options (e.g., git rebase vs merge).
Q: Two developers in your team are having a conflict during code review. How would you resolve it as a team lead?
A: In a management career track, you will come across leadership moments that require firm delegation and positive critique. Specifically, you can experience pushback during code review.
Developers work closely with their code and may vehemently stand by the currently completed work, regardless of its review. As an Angular interview question and answer for experienced team leads, the situational query is designed to understand how you handle interpersonal conflicts.
Try to provide more details than just implementing basic guidelines. Showcase how you would accept, encourage, and explore new methods or solutions that solve the particular problem, both between coders and the code itself. Often, it is a matter of acknowledging different approaches between two parties, which requires high-level communication skills. Demonstrate your management experience and the soft skills you would rely on to mitigate workplace conflict.
Key takeaways
While the depth and breadth of the Angular interview questions may seem daunting, with proper education, experience, and preparation, you will be ready to ace each part of the interview process. Take your time preparing for each step of the interview — the more due diligence you complete now, the easier it will be.
Want to apply to open work roles and start your interview as an Angular engineer? Check out our open jobs to search for remote software engineer opportunities.
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