So what is your current job title & duties?
What position(s) are you looking for?
Your greatest asset to an employer should not be your willingness to self educate but your 14+ years experience. Does your portfolio or resume show this? I figure that with 14+ years experience you should have a breath of knowledge in the environmental and fixture design industry, not to mention a few contacts in other companies.
I think you do have a “myopic view of the world” or at least of the design industry. You just referred to 90%+ of the users of this forum as drones. If you spent 14 years in the same company you probably haven’t experienced other design teams and how valuable a lot of those designers are. You are probably very talented in what you do, but it doesn’t take away from school taught designers.
Schooling or self taught shouldn’t affect your portfolio. With 14 years in the industry your portfolio should demonstrate your knowledge and skill. If it doesn’t then there lies the problem. Maybe somebody can review your portfolio? Or maybe your portfolio strengths are mechanical, shop, fabrication projects and you are trying to apply for a designer position?
I think the biggest problem is that you described yourself as a designer/engineer/carpenter. Those are 3 different careers. Maybe choose one? With that skillset it sounds like you would fit perfectly in an in-house design shop. What state/city are you in?Maybe you need to move from doing and into managing?
These of course are all gut reactions/assumptions based on your post. Maybe tell us more about your job & skills.