When can you expect to start competing?

I half-switched from 20 years of old taekwondo to kickboxing, on my very first lesson some people thought I practiced KB a lot longer and got complimented by the trainer. I'm flattered of course, I didn't expect it but I enjoyed training a lot. I was just wondering, with a solid background in a different martial art and a lot of curiosity for KB/MT, what kind of progression should I be expecting? When are you expected to be able to compete?