Light level means jack in Destiny. You can get to level 32 without ever entering or completing VoG or even CE hard mode. Just buy the level 31 gear from vendors and solo first 2 parts of CE normal mode until you have enough radiant shards to get to 32 with one exotic piece. Total raid completion and to a certain degree grimoire score, are the only indicators that will tell you how experienced a player is with raiding.