I've worked it IT for more than 10 years as a developer and team lead and have had a range of different experiences based on the job, very much influenced by the level of social competence amonst my co-workers. In most cases, I've had no problems. In some cases my male co-workers would socialise together and never ask me along. I agree with previous posters that for men this doesn't necessary mean that they are deliberately excluding you - it can mean that it didn't occur to them to ask you or that they were scared to. But it takes some time to learn that and not be hurt by it, because from a female perspective it can look like deliberate exclusion.
In one case, I did have a bad experience with a real clique formed by the rest of my team (all-male). They were already friends before I arrived and didn't take too kindly to my presence in spite of my efforts. This extended to my boss (head of the clique) not giving me credit for work I had done well, never giving me good projects, etc. I later moved to a team with a fantastically competent female lead, the best boss I have had, and shortly afterwards was promoted to a lead myself.
I think that as the lone female you do have to make an effort as sometimes your male colleagues just don't know how to treat you, especially if they are young and you are the first woman they have worked with. But in some environments you just have to accept that you are never going to really socialise with your co-workers, for whatever reasons, and just settle for at best a cordial professional relationship. This sometimes by choice as even though my job is technical and I enjoy it I don't necessarily want to spend my downtime talking about Linux.
In summary, being an outsider is always difficult and as a female engineer you will have to deal with it to some degree and make an effort with your co-workers. It would be nice though if all the responsibility for integrating into a new group of male co-workers didn't always lie with the new girl.
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I've worked it IT for more than 10 years as a developer and team lead and have had a range of different experiences based on the job, very much influenced by the level of social competence amonst my co-workers. In most cases, I've had no problems. In some cases my male co-workers would socialise together and never ask me along. I agree with previous posters that for men this doesn't necessary mean that they are deliberately excluding you - it can mean that it didn't occur to them to ask you or that they were scared to. But it takes some time to learn that and not be hurt by it, because from a female perspective it can look like deliberate exclusion. In one case, I did have a bad experience with a real clique formed by the rest of my team (all-male). They were already friends before I arrived and didn't take too kindly to my presence in spite of my efforts. This extended to my boss (head of the clique) not giving me credit for work I had done well, never giving me good projects, etc. I later moved to a team with a fantastically competent female lead, the best boss I have had, and shortly afterwards was promoted to a lead myself. I think that as the lone female you do have to make an effort as sometimes your male colleagues just don't know how to treat you, especially if they are young and you are the first woman they have worked with. But in some environments you just have to accept that you are never going to really socialise with your co-workers, for whatever reasons, and just settle for at best a cordial professional relationship. This sometimes by choice as even though my job is technical and I enjoy it I don't necessarily want to spend my downtime talking about Linux. In summary, being an outsider is always difficult and as a female engineer you will have to deal with it to some degree and make an effort with your co-workers. It would be nice though if all the responsibility for integrating into a new group of male co-workers didn't always lie with the new girl.