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Before I have started the University I worked as waitress in a cafe.
I'm not sure about the tenses here (present perfect/past simple).
Maybe it should be
Before I started university I had worked as waitress in a cafe.
Anyway I'm still studying so that's why the doubts, it's not a closed action.
When we start a sentence with the word before, we generally follow it with the past tense (in constructions such as yours).
Before I started....
Before he went ....
Before she sang....
This is true also for since.
So you would write:
Before I started AT (the) university....
If you wrote: Before I started the university it would mean that you were the founder of the university.
The second half of your sentence is correct:
Before I started at university, I worked as a waitress in a cafe.
Another way to say it is:
Before starting at the university, .....
In some circumstances, an option is to use the PAST PERFECT in the second clause. For example:
Before I started at university, I had worked as a waitress in a cafe and for some years after that I supported myself by walking people's dogs.
This makes it clear that the order of events is waitressing, followed by dog-walking, followed by university studies.
Before I started at university I had worked as a waitress. Good sentence, the past perfect makes it clear the working occurred before university. However, when "before" and "after" are used in a sentence, the past perfect is not necessary, it is optional. Before I started at university, I worked as a waitress. Equally good sentence. So, the choice is up to you.
