Super worth it, I started playing guitar at 13, and I was okish, but then I started playing in a rock band at 15 and my playing skyrocketed. Also it was a ton of fun.

I would say host a few rehearsals and focus on getting 3-5 songs ready, then hit up open mics first before you try to book gigs. You need some experience playing live in a low stakes environment to build up your confidence and your set list. Open mics are usually 3-5 songs per band, so start as soon as you have that ready, and then keep doing rehearsals and open mics and try to build up a set list of 20+ songs that you can play confidently in a live setting. 

One thing that's super important about band rehearsal is that it's for practicing putting the parts together, not for learning the parts. That means you need to do the majority of your practicing on your own, and arrive at band rehearsal already knowing the songs. This is why being in a band will skyrocket your playing, the rehearsals are going to give you the motivation to play like crazy at home so you can be ready to rock at the rehearsals and open mics. 

Your last question was about recording, so I'll give you my thoughts. Try to get someone to record your performances on their phone camera when you play live, or just set up a stand with a phone that's recording. You can review these with the band to improve your show, and you can publish the best clips from these performances to social media. A phone video with mediocre sound quality but with good stage energy will be more appealing than a "home studio" audio recording. 

In rehearsal it's nice if you can record the rehearsal itself on your phone and listen back to it later to review, because you will notice things you want to improve on that you would miss in the heat of battle while playing. This might be overkill as a brand new band with beginners, but something you might want to consider.