Wow, another computer engineer.......

Don't know how many years you are out of college & how much experience you have. I know that my 1 1/2 years out of college was writing test documents on our software......you are right, documentation isn't the best part of the job.

I left my first job after 1 1/2 years to go into aerospace firmware design engineering in an ALL MALE work environment.....also at the same company where my husband was working. That was definitely a sink or swim position all the way around. It was a small project where I got to read the specs, design the communication interface (it was a hand-held terminal).....long before the GPS devices were around (1980+), program it & burn in onto the chips, then document it all including the test procedures. The next project I moved onto was even larger & just as sink or swim.....getting in on the ground floor of the design of the communication links.

Interesting thing though was that I had played racquettball starting at my first job.....it was the sport everyone played on their lunch hour. I got so good at it that I was playing racquettball with all the guys at lunch, we had a club & had tournaments & I would end up beating many of the guys with quite a few first places in the tournaments....lol. Somehow, they just accepted me as ONE OF THEM. Not sure if my husband working there helped with them accepting me as their equal or not, but I had to work hard to be their equal on the job......as hard as I had to play racquettball to be their equal there.

I moved to several other companies where I was also the only woman & never seemed to have the problem being accepted as one of the guys.......working as their equal & even getting into supervisor positions (never management though).

Strange thing, it wasn't until I ended up in a group with mostly all women that I couldn't stand working there as it wasn't my technical position any more & I felt like a duck out of water...hated the position & ended up breaking down....panic attacks & then the huge earthquake hit & I just couldn't push myself anymore.....it was a little burnout & a lot of anxiety because of being forced into a position I didn't like & wasn't comfortable with.....but the director in this area was more like a dictator & wouldn't let you go once he had you.

Maybe you can just pop into your managers office & ask him if you could just talk to him a little while about your interest in your future there in the company & that you are concerned about the experience you are getting. I definitely understand that you don't want to get pigeon holed into being a documentation person...programming is definitely more interesting & challenging & it's important to get a well rounded experience in a company.

As for being included with the guys, if you get a chance sometime if they are talking about going out to lunch, you might just say, gee, I hear you are going out to eat (where-ever) would you mind if I come too? When they see that you can be one of them, then they start to accept you that way also. I really don't know exactly how I was always included as one of the guys, but I grew up in a neighborhood of all guys & never had any interest in playing girl stuff, so it always felt natural to just be there with the guys, so they alway included me as part of the group.....whether racquettball or lunch or anything else....part might be because I didn't see myself as being any different.

Not sure if any of this might help, but hope you will start being accepted more equally & be able to talk to your manager more freely......a lot of times we are treated in a way because it's how we come across to them. If we are afraid that they will treat us as a woman or become interested in us as a woman rather than as an equal, there is kind of an invisible boundary that gets put up that can be sensed to keep them away. I found that I never bothered with the boundary unless someone tried to cross it......then I made it clear that my boundary was in place......yes, I was married, but even if I hadn't been, my career was a separate life than my personal life....the boundary that is good to have in place. If someone actually might be a good person to get to know better, you can always hide behind the boundary until you get to know them better & know if they might be someone you want to know better....but that way it's under YOUR CONTROL.

Just a few hints....know my experience was years ago & I was in a different circumstance, but some thoughts might work.

Good luck getting better experience also......know we have to start with paying our dues with documenting......but there does come a point where your experience needs to be your top priority if you are really wanting your career to go anywhere.

Best wishes,
Debbie