Why I Finally Rebuilt My Portfolio in Angular 22 (And What Jumping from Angular 12 Taught Me)

A few weeks ago, the author of a personal website felt a sense of developer guilt - the site was frozen in time, running on Angular 12 and showcasing work from years ago. While the site served its purpose, the author's day job involved building high-density freight audit ledgers, embedded checkout rails, and custom monorepo workspaces using Angular 19.

Deciding to do a complete rewrite from Angular 12 to Angular 22, the author stripped away legacy boilerplate and modernized the framework. Jumping ten major versions directly from Angular 12 to Angular 22, the author discovered a new, modern framework with zero NgModules, built-in control flow, signals-first reactivity, and a more enjoyable developer experience.

The author then shifted the focus from listing every library and tool used to solving real-world problems. When rewriting the personal site, the author structured it around integrating Stripe Elements and Plaid Link for secure financial flows, handling state leaks, and migrating to Kubernetes for continuous delivery. This led to building an interactive 12-card skills grid, which required careful alignment and careful SVG design to ensure consistency across different screen sizes.

The author faced a decision about which Angular version to highlight - should it be the one used at their day job, Angular 19, or the more modern Angular 22? In the end, the author chose Angular 22 for their personal site, allowing for a more modern and enjoyable development experience.