I have to fall in line with Capt.Black on this one...
I take enormous pride in being a good mechanic; there is a great deal of responsibility involved with the maintenance of aircraft.
Mechanics (or a/c maint. engineers, as my overseas brethren are called) are dramatically underpaid and chronically under-appreciated. But this does not, in turn, mean that pilots are overpaid or over-appreciated.
There is something quite compelling to the argument that we (as mechanics) don't have to go down with the aircraft when there is no other alternative. Although every good mechanic feels that responsiblitiy, it is not in the realm of our immediate consequence. Besides, trying to compare performing maintenance with the piloting of aircraft is inherently ridiculous. They are fundamentally different functions.
A good pilot knows, that they can only be as good as their aircraft will allow, and that that aircraft is only as good as the people who maintain it. So while pilots may not take the time to walk up and pat you on the back day after day - every time that a/c completes a cycle without incident, that is your pat on the back. It's part and parcel of what we do - we work in the background, and it stays that way ONLY if we're doing our jobs well.
If you, as a mechanic, end up in the spotlight - you've royally (how do you lot say it...) bulloxed...something up! In our business, no news is the best news.