Nothing wrong with jamming with anyone who wants to, a real band can form. I strongly encourage it. I grabbed two years out of the air thinking by then what you can play should change profoundly from what you play now. Not that you should wait 2 years.

Think of yourself, sitting down to write an add asking a band to hire you. What skills do you poses that you can put in that add to sell your talents to them over others replying to the same add. When you can make a good add, you should be ready.

What happened during practice?