I am a mechanical engineering graduate who wants to work as a CAD engineer. Is there anybody on here who can fill me in on what to expect? I am certified with inventor, used it for over 5 years but have not touched autocad. I dont know much about drafting in terms of part and assembly drawings in real life projects, and im not really sure on what to expect from a CAD engineering job based in mechanical projects. Is there anybody who could give me some insight into aspects of the job as a CAD engineer, and how a project starts and finishes in terms of part, assembly drawings and use of software etc? Thanks for any replies. 

I have not worked as a CAD Designer for long but from the experience that I have, you need to do learn Autocad. Majority of projects out there require 2D technical drwaings and Autocad is a leader in this. You can also look for projects involving product designs and developments which mostly use inventor or such close softwares.

No such thing as a cad engineer.  There are cad techs and cad managers however.  There are also engineers who use cad as a tool much as they would use a calculator or a spreadsheet.Large well established companies are moving away from using generic AutoCAD towards such programs as Revit.  Revit is considered to be a "modern" cad program and is nothing like AutoCAD.  I suggest you look into Revit MEP.  Start with this link...http://www.autodesk.com/products/revit-family/overview

Working with CAD for a project is so easy. You just learn the basics of CAD and its shortcuts. This will help you to finish projects quickly. Start learning more about the shortcut keys.

I fail to see what vital information that ^ ^ ^ post imparted to the OP.  How does learning shortcut keys benefit someone doing mechanical design using CAD?  What do shortcut keys have to do with parts and assembly drawings?

Whew...there's a guy who bears watching while at work, eh John?

I'm sure he could teach us a trick or two about shortcut keys.