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Field report 02 · Engineering · Pair

Two weeks paired with Vercel. Create React App to Next.js, in production.

DistrictZero's front end moved to Next.js in a two-week embed with Vercel. Twelve of the fixes went into Vercel's public migration skill.

A one-page PDF of this field report.

January 2026 · Dial closed

Partner
Vercel
Paired with
Tom Occhino, Chief Product Officer
Role
Founder, product engineering at DistrictZero
Stack
Create React App to Next.js
Shipped
Production deploy on Vercel

S1The situation

A live app on a toolchain the React team has since retired.

DistrictZero ran on Create React App. Moving it meant working through legacy errors and libraries that needed refactoring.

S2The one outcome

The real app, live on Next.js, inside two weeks.

Migrate the app rather than rebuild it, and deploy it to production on Vercel.

S3What we built

Paired through every blocker, then wrote them down.

  • Jump-off with Vercel leadership
  • Legacy libraries and lambda functions
  • DNS and environment variables
  • 12 lessons, written up for the next team

What carried over

Every pairing should leave something reusable behind.

Here, it was 12 lessons any team making the same move can use. They are now part of Vercel’s public Create React App to Next.js migration skill.

  • Day 1

    Jump-off with Vercel leadership, and a plan for the move.

  • The two weeks

    Pairing through legacy libraries, lambda functions and old errors.

  • The finish

    DNS and environment variables, then the app live on Vercel.

The debrief

What two weeks produced.

Two generous weeks of pairing, and lessons any team can reuse.

  1. 2 weeksFrom jump-off to a production deploy
  2. 12Hard-won fixes shared in Vercel's public migration guide
  3. 800+Installs since, by teams making the same move

In their words

“Working with him and for him has been one of the best experiences I had as a software engineer.”
Shpetim Selaci
Senior Software Engineer

Laps · how it got here

  1. Day 1

    Jump-off

    With Vercel leadership.

  2. Two weeks

    Pairing

    Libraries, lambdas and legacy errors.

  3. End

    Production

    DNS, environment variables, and live on Vercel.

  4. After

    Shared

    12 fixes, now public for everyone.

Your version of this

Ninety minutes. One deliverable your team keeps.

A Pair session: code, a presentation, a roadmap or a decision, produced together.

Book a 15-minute call

A one-page PDF of this field report.

Ready to start? Book a session · $1,200 paid in full.

Further reading

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Thank you to Tom Occhino and the Vercel team for two generous weeks of pairing.