I am a self-educated electrical engineer
That is rare. I know, because I'm in the same/similar boat. In order to be a non-degreed Engineer it's pretty much a given that you love your job, otherwise you wouldn't have made it to where you are. Your passion must compel you rather than a piece of paper.
I started as a Maintenance Electrical Technician. I got that job leaning heavily on my on Navy electronics training (former Submarine weapons system technician). My job was to troubleshoot the electrical systems of extruders, winders, capstans, laser micrometers, braiders, spoolers, etc in a wire & cable plant, but I ended up spending more time helping the mechanics change gearbox oil, machine new steel parts, etc.
In that plant was a lot of aged machinery with relay control systems growing unreliable. We had a 3rd party engineering firm that would come in, scope out all the machines on a line, and bid for a complete controls retrofit. They would rip out all the guts of all the cabinets, replace them with PLCs. They would replace old DC motors and clutch speed controls with AC motors and VFDs. I was very intrigued by what they did, and I begged my boss to give me a shot at doing that myself, in-house. He let me start with small, inconsequential standalone machines, and I excelled. I had no business doing what he was letting me do, but I was passionate about it, often staying after my shift off the clock to bang my head against iron until I had achieved some small amount of success. Often took my work home with me, and spent nearly all my free time reading up on topics that further my understanding; watching videos, reading and posting in forums, etc.
I spent about a year upgrading all of our smaller machines; fully automating manual machines so that one operator could sit on his phone playing games while 6 machines ran under their own supervision, where before it would take at least 3 operators to run 6 machines, with constant close attention.
I got very good, very fast, and within a couple of years we were not bringing in any more 3rd party outfits. All retrofits were done in-house (at great cost savings to the company) by me, leading a team of miffed maintenance hands (incl. licensed electricians and guys with 30 yrs on the job) who were all bitter about their seniority being overturned by the pimple-faced kid.
After a while of designing, building, and installing these systems, doing the actual work of Engineering, I decided i should assume the title of Engineer and be paid as such, not as a junior maintenance hand. I went to HR and made my pitch and was shot down. They said in order to be an Engineer for the company I must have an Engineering degree. I put in my notice (two
months notice). I left on good terms, telling them that I intended to go to college full time and come back to the company as an Engineer.
Since I had an Honorable Discharge, I was eligible for the Post-911 GI bill which is a 100% tuition paid education at a college of my choosing, plus a meager monthly stipend for living expenses. The catch is, you have to go to school full time. I did not think I would be able to manage full time school plus full time work, and that's why I quit. I sold my car to buy myself out of my rental agreement and moved myself, my wife and two kids into my my mother's house, and went to school.
After a few weeks in college I got bored. 18 hours of classes was not the back-breaking burden that my fresh-out-of-highschool classmates were lamenting about. Not after the Navy, and not after 60-80hrs/wk in the plant. I was devoting maybe 30hrs/wk to schooling, and growing restless.
So I started a LLC in order to be able to go back and resume my work at my former employer, as a vendor now, instead of as an employee. I got leads into other companies too, through contacts of folks I knew from the plant who had left and taken jobs at other plants. Before long I had a steady stream of work from 3 big customers. I was putting in 30+ hours/week in my LLC and making more doing that than what a rookie Electrical Engineer makes. I didn't see any point in continuing my FREE education. It was just a distraction.
From that point on, I've been self employed and/or hired on by a former customer the whole time. I've had 3 different permanent Controls Engineer or Automation Systems Engineer jobs since then and I'm on my 2nd LLC now; the first was forfeit for forgetting to file my annual "no tax due" form.
I worked previously for a company that designed automated subsea equipment (basically underwater robots with saws for hands) and now I work for a logistics company that boxes & bags plastic pellets out of railcars and designs/builds most of their own equipment in-house (sounds dumb, but there is actually a lot to it and it's more challenging than the subsea job).
I maintain my LLC and continue to do 0-20hrs/wk on the side, mostly plant maintenance type work, emergency service calls for downed machines, but do occasionally take on larger projects like controls retrofits or small scale design projects if the customer is not too rushed on the timeframe.
I absolutely love my career and feel like the most fortunate man on earth when I think deeply about it. Awesome wife, awesome kids, awesome job, I feel really bad for people who have "just a job." I don't know how they can get up each day and go out into the world to embrace something they hate (or at least don't really dig).
