What might be the reasons I feel that I'm not really working?

Question

As a software engineer. It feels quite disappointing when you are being assigned to some work that most of the time is out of your primary skill scope. I'm not really sure the company is out of projects (i.e. less clients). It's just, I don't think my manager trusts me or my abilities to get into a project. I was checking some coworker's (with permission of course) reports and feel surprised that I'm the only one who currently handling a single, small project. I feel quite useless.

Sometimes I want to poke the manager to ask him when exactly he wants me to be involved in to some particular projects (at least the prototype) But, most of time I feel that it would be rude. I also think that it's the upper management who instructs him who to put on which the assignment, so he has little authority to do so.
Yes, Naively I would think that It's a good thing because less work and fewer duties means less responsibilities, less stress. But I'm not going to improve in this way. I must get in to a bigger company at some time in my career life, but I have to grow before I can do so.
So what might be the reasons I feel that I'm not really working? Other than being the only engineer in the company who is not currently handling projects.

Answer 1

To answer your question: Maybe you are not actually working and slacking around most of the time. Or maybe you are working but you think that your project ist unimportant and so your work is insignificant.

To answer what I think is really your question: How can you get your manager to assing you to the bigger projects / give you some more interesting work.

Simple. Finish the project you have. Put in the hours necessary, get the project done. If you are new to the company, that might as well be kind of a test. You get a small, not too important project and then your boss watches what you do. Maybe it is just something nobody really wants to do, so the newbye gets it.

Will you work in a self-reliant way? Will you make progress without being constantly pressured?

Once you have finished that project, you will get assigned new work.