About Techisane

When you read technology journalism, you have probably noticed the same issues I have. Most articles have been written by journalists with little to no relevant experience beyond some quick research. Add to that the fact that in a good number of cases, articles are being written to game the search engine, and you get the poor quality of writing tech journalism is rife with. You can tell it is tech journalism by the number of questions the article leaves you with, many of which are better and far more relevant than the original headline that was answered.

Techisane exists because that frustrated me enough to do something about it.

About Me

My name is James Mitchell. After spending eight years in enterprise technology working first with IT infrastructure and then with IT security and consulting, I began advising businesses on the safe use of technology and the most appropriate technology to support their business. I am not a journalist. I am someone who did tech work for businesses that could not afford to have their tech not work.

Because of that background, I noticed things most articles did not. Most articles on IT security have been written by people who have never done an IT security audit. Articles that "review" IT products are written by people who have never used the product more than a couple of times. Most tech how-to articles skip some of the most important steps and write about them like they know what they are talking about even though they have never encountered the problem.

I have always wanted to write like people should have been writing and doing tech work, and that is what I intend to do. I created Techisane to write about the things I know best and care about the most: IT, IT security, and the IT tools and computing hardware that are used with all of it.

What I cover and why

Every category on this site maps to something I have direct professional experience with: 

1. AI: Because most of my clients had no knowledge of even the most rudimentary AI in the early days, I began assisting clients in the evaluation and integration of AI tools. Because I've watched AI reshape how teams actually work day to day not the headline version, the messy internal version. I have a unique insight on the actual impacts that AI can have. I have experience in the positive, the negative, and the disruptive functions of AI.
2. Cybersecurity: For five out of my eight years in enterprise tech, the foundation of my profession was built on a career in cybersecurity consulting. I have firsthand knowledge on network vulnerability assessments, formulation of data breach consequence strategies, writing incident response strategies, and explaining data breach impacts to board members of different companies. My credentials on phishing and password managers goes beyond listing and voicing my opinions on those topics. I have firsthand knowledge on the topics.
3. Software: I have a unique insight to hundreds of different software tools in a professional capacity. I have an interest in software beyond the marketing strategies that companies employ to promote their software. My interest in different software tools is in their application in real life.
4. How-To: I test my how-to guides before publishing them, and I practice steps to resolve problems before publishing them. I do not publish answers to problems I have not firsthand solved.
5. Gadgets: I cover devices as a user and a professional. I cover hardware because I value how a product lives up to the cost of a consumer's time and money. I have no interest in being the first to publish a breakdown and I do not cover hardware to review, chase financial models to have 'the first' news release, or get review units.

How I write

Each article on Techisane goes through the same preliminary and final writing processes regardless of the hardware being reviewed or the topic. I consider all hardware reviews in light of what I have actually done. I have reviewed, or tested hardware as a user, and have significant knowledge and work experience.

I have primary research and first hand, or second hand, work experience from contact with, or work done for, the manufacturers. I do not cite blogs as sources. I do not consider a reddit thread as evidence.

AI tools are used to assist me in research, fact checking and editing. I do not publish, or release, results generated by AI. Everything published or posted on this site has been constructed from my experience as a user.

Each article is logged and dated as evidence for the original source and to document corrections. Articles are republished when tech info becomes out of date. It is better to have a published a newer article than to have a published article that is only a year or two out of date.