So, I'm not an expert or anything but it's a fun thought exercise so he are my thoughts.

I feel confident there's other life out there, but I don't anyone is close enough for it to matter. The requirements for life (as we know them) are very particular. That said, there's more out there than we can wrap our head around, so somewhere out there it's likely the process has also occurred. Another limiting factor is time, though. It's likely that life cycles have occurred and died long before life on Earth existed, or haven't yet taken place.

As for, "are they like us," like someone else commented, we can only speculate. Assuming a planet produces similar types of animals i.e. primate, avian, crustacean etc, there's no telling which one in particular will develop intelligence, if any at all. Depending on what their home planet is like, they may evolve completely different way of perceiving existence. Imagine a species of felines at or around our level of intelligence. Instead of worshipping religion they may be self-focused on how they themselves are a god all their own. Maybe a race of intelligent spiders doesn't even conceptualize an higher power of any kind. A society of ants that communicates solely through vomiting into each others' mouths. I imagine different perspectives would create a different perception of life and the universe, vastly different forms of communication to the point that even if we made contact we may never be able to understand each other on any level.

Love that shit.