Have you mentioned your thoughts on the lack of pertinent practical experience to someone in a position to change that? Have you reached out to senior engineers in the organization and asked them to mentor you or bring you in on projects? Just curious because sometimes people find that it's as simple as nobody realizing that you have greater aspirations for learning. It could be that the person that was previously in your position had no such intentions. Hang in there, this experience will help you appreciate where you land next.
That's something @Blob_Castle@ brought up too, that I had not thought of (but will be doing!!!). I'm a Chemical Engineer - all the senior engineers are Civil or Mechanical/MechE Tech, two areas that aren't within my realm. The vast majority of design and project work is contracted to outside sources, that's the nature of this company. The only thing that might be a possibility is to take up some corrosion oriented work, as I have a bit of experience in that.Also, thank you and @Blob_Castle@ and anybody else for giving a damn and reading all of that. It's a bit whiny of a write up...this past month and half has not been very good for me mentally.
This may sound cheesy, but I always find a top performer in every organization I've worked for and specifically ask them if they'd act as a mentor for me. We schedule a call or a lunch every so often and go over any challenges or goals that I have. You could do this in any career and the mentor wouldn't need to be an engineer too, just someone accomplished that you could learn from. I've learned a lot over the years, even while in seemingly "dead end" positions. Hope this helps.
It's some great advice. It's just a matter of finding out who those people are. The departments are pretty segregated so I don't have work exposure to the people outside of mine, which is 4 people including myself.