Java tutorials and training

Curated starter material to help new LAA engineers ramp up with Java and Spring. Pair this with the Java setup guide to ensure you are using the expected JDK.

Quick guided tutorials

• Official Spring guides: https://spring.io/guides — short, focused walkthroughs (REST, data, security, messaging).
• Baeldung Spring Boot tutorial: https://www.baeldung.com/spring-boot — longer form with background, starter projects, and testing examples.

Hands-on courses (licenced platforms)

Request access in Slack #licenced-offerings-skillsoft-pluralsight-oreilly-linkedinlearning. Each platform has beginner Java tracks and Spring Boot fundamentals:

• O’Reilly: Java fundamentals, modern Java (streams/records), Spring Boot fundamentals, testing with JUnit/Mockito.
• Pluralsight: Java language path, Spring Boot fundamentals, Spring Data JPA, REST APIs.
• Skillsoft: Core Java programming, Java best practices, Spring Boot microservices.
• LinkedIn Learning: Java essential training, Java concurrency, Spring Boot: building APIs.

Suggested learning path

• Start with a Spring guide (REST + data) and run it locally using the Corretto LTS JDK recommended in our setup guide.
• Follow a short course on one platform above to deepen language fundamentals (collections, streams, concurrency, testing).
• Build a small API using Spring Boot with controller, service, repository layers, Flyway migrations, and integration tests.
• Add observability basics: health checks, metrics, and structured logging; then containerise with a Dockerfile using the amazoncorretto:25-alpine base to mirror LAA defaults.
• Clone the LAA template and practice end-to-end: https://github.com/ministryofjustice/laa-spring-boot-microservice-template
• Walk through the template internals with the Microservice template fundamentals training to learn the build, API-first flow, layers, testing, and packaging.

  git clone https://github.com/ministryofjustice/laa-spring-boot-microservice-template.git
  cd laa-spring-boot-microservice-template
  ./gradlew clean build
  ./gradlew bootRun