Thank you for the informative reply. Unfortunately my drafting fate is probably sealed. The company I work for will sub that work out before they invest in a program or training like that. It would be the only smart thing to do.

It is amazing how fast the change to bim is becoming, at least on my end. The company I work for has been in business for over 75 years and has only had two versions of LT in the last 10. It is all they needed. They do not get any paper bid drawings. Even a large federal prison they did 10 years ago did not require the use of any cad, not even as-builts. The county jail they just finished did not require any cad at all either. Up until now all coordination drawings were done in 2D some with cad some sent back to the GC on paper. Now all of a sudden even the small jobs are requiring the use of 3D coordination drawings. I just finished one and they have two more if they get the jobs.

Alright now here is the kicker. The one I just did was with my personal version of AutoCad 2000 That I feel quite proficient at in 3D. They were taken by surprise in the job specs for 3D. They got prices to sub it out that floored them. They would have bought a new version of Autocad but I felt that this was a trial, and I know 2000 better than the latest. It really was not bad creating blocks for lights, panels, and switch gear with dimensions from the cuts. Drawing cable tray was not too bad. Conduit was the worst. The most wasted time was converting the files for this four story building to 2000 with dwg truview. Especial when they are always changing. The drafters/detailers for the other trades were great. I used the free teklaBIMsight to import the dwg files and view the overall job. Tekla also does clash detection.
Now I have my personnel 2012, what an amazing advancement. I would have been way better off using it. There was not that big a learning curve for what I needed to know. If they get the next jobs 2012 MEP is going to be a must, and there is money in the bid. I was surprised even at the time that nobody complained about the use of such an old version of Autocad altho they may have had a good laugh in their office. As far as I know nobody used revit although I don't know who did the steel drawings. Navis works was used for clash detection as well as final bim to the owner

The mechanical and fire sprinklers were done in house with Quickpens Autocad add on duct designer and pipe designer. The plumber outsourced it to a design company, I am not sure what they used. The mechanical contractor also has the tools to make and install the duct with the information from the drawings.

The day I was on the site I thought the surveyors were on the job, but it was the tin knockers. One guy was going around with a transit and a receiver, shooting a laser to the ceiling. Then he used an industrial sized bingo marker on a pole to mark out for all the hangers and rods. Another guy was installing all the hangers and rods behind himon a lift. That was two weeks ago they are probably done with all four floors by now.