But he probably isn't.

Could be a troll, but i doubt it. I work IT and get a surprising number of dumb questions from smart people. I've had the HDMI is not USB discussion with people sadly.

What? There are plenty of engineering jobs in nearly all parts of the country.

depends on what type of engineering degree you have. Mechanical, Chemical, electrical, computer, etc. and not all of these will be fully knowledgeable of various computer hardware

Yeah, even if someone doesn't know what HDMI and USB are, the best way to know they aren't the same is the fact that people go through the effort to name them different things.

And the fact that they're two completely different sizes, and one has metal spiky thingies in it (or going into it).

While it's funny he wouldn't know what it is regardless, I'm an engineering student and so far I haven't had any classes that taught us about different wires.

Nepotism.

this happens all the time. my wife's boss manages about 20 engineers and only have a high school diploma. when they go on sight visits to Korea, they ask the boss questions and he has to turn around and ask her. dispite this, they never address the question directly to her