It's certainly not difficult to apply directly to the big tech players - you can find these pretty easily with '<company name> uk careers' Google searches: htt

It's certainly not difficult to apply directly to the big tech players - you can find these pretty easily with '<company name> uk careers' Google searches: http://www.google.co.uk/about/jobs/locations/london/ http://www.google.co.uk/about/jobs/locations/london/ https://www.facebook.com/careers/locations/london https://www.facebook.com/careers/locations/london https://jobs.apple.com/uk/search?jobFunction=SFWEG#&t=0&sb=req_open_dt&so=1&j=SFWEG&lo=0*GBR&pN=0 https://jobs.apple.com/uk/search?jobFunction=SFWEG#&t=0&... http://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/gb/home.aspx http://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/gb/home.aspx http://www.ibm.com/employment/uk/ http://www.ibm.com/employment/uk/ I don't really have any experience applying to mid-range companies, but intuitively it doesn't feel right that anyone should feel the need to conceal their identity when searching for a developer role, especially if your friend is experienced enough to be optimising salary rather than worrying about getting a job at all. Are you sure there hasn't been a misunderstanding?