IMPROVING WEB PROGRAMMING COMPETENCE THROUGH LARAVEL BOOTCAMP FOR VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The rapid development of digital technology requires vocational high school graduates to master practical competencies that align with current industrial needs. However, initial observations at SMK Negeri 2 Cimahi revealed that students in the Software Engineering department were still dependent on procedural programming and had very limited exposure to modern frameworks such as Laravel. This competence gap resulted in low readiness to face professional challenges in web development. To address this issue, a community service program was implemented in the form of a Laravel bootcamp that applied a project-based learning approach. The program involved 40 students who were guided through structured activities including technical preparation, introduction to Laravel concepts, project development of a To-Do List application, and comprehensive evaluation. The evaluation results demonstrated clear improvement, with the average pre-test score of 46.25 increasing to 72.80 in the post-test. Further analysis of competency achievement showed that 85% of participants understood the MVC concept, 90% successfully implemented CRUD functions, 80% mastered authentication, 75% presented projects effectively, and 88% demonstrated strong teamwork. These outcomes confirm that project-based bootcamps can effectively bridge the gap between theory and practice, while strengthening technical competence and enriching teaching resources available for schools and higher education institutions.