In my experience, there are few opportunities for that sort of person. The type of stuff people generally do hobby-wise is really tip of the iceberg compared to industrial scale projects, and there must be a very small number of companies trying to produce "fun" type electronic gizmos.
Having a hobby interest is good because it demonstrates an interest in the subject, but for nearly all jobs you need the depth of expertise that college provides. In fact you usually need more, but college shows you have an ability to study stuff you may not be interested in. Unfortunately most jobs are 20% interesting and 80% boring stuff you have to do. Endless days in the lab testing...