I worked in the back office for Wells Fargo Investments and JPMorgan. I liked it and that is how I became interested in making money in the stock market. It was repetitive and boring at times, but it was very fast paced and deadline driven. And no, we were not placed close to the trading floors or trading desk. Our contacts were the financial advisors and other brokerage firms (their financial advisors and their back offices). We never talked to the customers either, which was a plus. I did not like customer contact whatsoever because I am not a people person. I pretty much did everything in the back office like settled trades, processed dividends and interest payments, transferred customers assets, and corporate actions (mergers, tender offers, etc). I actually miss those days. I learned quite a bit about the stock market, which in turn helped me pass the series 7 very easily.
"everywhere" with peanut butter. the back offices were mostly italian in those days. guess why? read it somewhere in a book on the history of wall street.