See eg http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/d...
A) Built an API B) Used an MVC Framework (front or back end)
This can be easily overcome by following either a book like "AngularJS in Action" or spending some time using a framework on a small scale project.
At the end of the day, I've found that when using Angular, my code is much easier to read, maintain, and reason about. I used it for one project about a year ago, and just started another project with it last week - which was easy since I'd spent some time with it previously.
Never feel that you should be intimidated by a technology; but definitely be able to reason about its use cases and the value it may add to your toolbox.
I stuck with Angular because I tend to write larger applications, and Angular had shining recommendations from those using it in similar contexts.
This. It seems to me that many authors are pointing to the importance of a balance between the long-term paradigmatic and principled knowledge and short-term tactical knowledge. Both are important and not to be neglected at the expense of the other.
Learn paradigms and principles. If you know what to do, you will be able to find the tools to do it.
Its a bit like cooking - the cookbooks for the peasants give recipes. The ones for the chefs give mechanics and techniques.
So learn pointers, functional programming, asynchronous operations and few more important paradigms, learn how to keep a code base tidy and organized and just ignore the foam on the water that is the hot new tech. You will be able to learn it in a week when need arises.