I think you need a portfolio or CV with understandable skill levels. You say:
I feel like I have quite a few applicable skills
How do they compare with a professional? For instance, you only have to look at Youtube videos to notice that people that can solder well are a small proportion of people that can solder. So just saying you can do it doesn't really say much. Similarly, when you design and layout a board, what design rules are you working to? Do you work out the right track widths for the currents being carried, or the appropriate gaps for the voltages? Same with writing code: many many more people can 'write code' than can write code well.
So it seems to me that you can either show you can do these skills to a professional standard, or you're looking for something like an apprenticeship. Either way, college (or something very like it) is going to be involved if for no other reason to acquire the bit of paper that says you can do this stuff 'properly'. And be able to learn stuff.