We judged frequently for several years before we took the plunge and cooked our first comp - last count, I think we've judged at around 50 contests. We still judge quite a bit, but are cooking more often this year. We never cooked with another team, though - we just jumped right in as Hot Wire on our own and floundered our way along. Judging that long helped us tremendously in identifying what was going over well at the judges' tables, as well as learning what we liked and didn't like as far as flavors and presentations.
To date, we have only cooked eight comps, this being our 4th year. (Cooked 1 comp our 1st year, 2 our 2nd year, 3 our 3rd year, and 2 so far this year.) I believe that our judging experience and a massive amount of the luck of the tables, in combination with the Stumper clone that DH Robert built, has played a major role in helping us hit 8th x 79, 4th x 49, 3rd x 76, and 2nd x 46 overall in our last four comps. Here's hoping the table luck holds out...
It might be nice to have an experienced judge around to talk to before hand, and hear his opinion of what he likes and doesn't like in a box, but don't second-guess your own abilities, and don't let him control what you do in your own boxes. There's a fine line between a CBJ and a DSJ...
