How do I feel valued when my work goes unnoticed?

You build the things everyone relies on and no one thinks about, until they fail. When the work is good, it disappears into the background of people's lives, and so does the credit. Wanting to be seen and valued for that is human. Anyone would. But notice what the invisibility actually means: it is a sign you did it right. The roads, the systems, the structures people trust without a second thought, that trust exists because someone like you got it correct. The world runs quietly on work like yours. That it goes unnoticed is not proof it is worthless. It is proof it is essential. Learn to take real pride in that, even without applause. Still, you are allowed to want recognition, and you can seek it in honest ways, from peers who understand the craft, from a record of what you have built, from your own clear sense of a job done well. One step: keep a private list of what you have made and what depends on it. When you feel invisible, read it. The value was always there. You just have to be the one who sees it first.