I've spent the past 1.5 years working in Hyperconverged Storage / VMware environment and been told I need to up my game with certifications.  
I looked at VMware's website but found it to be very poorly put together, I searched in Google as well.
From what I gathered, the structure is similar to Cisco's certification where you have associate, professional and expert.
I also understand some of these exams require a mandatory class in order for the certification to be recognized.
My questions are:
1. Can I start with the Professional exam rather than the Associate?
2. How much is the class and can anyone take it ?
3. How long is the certification good for?