He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1988, and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1991.

[3] Oetken served as a law clerk for Judge Richard Cudahy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1991 to 1992.

Lastly, he clerked for Associate Justice Harry Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court from 1993 to 1994.

[3][5] On January 26, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Oetken to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to replace Judge Denny Chin, who was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

[8] Schumer recommended Oetken a year after he recommended former Assistant United States Attorney Daniel S. Alter, also openly gay,[9] whom the White House declined to nominate after concluding, because of statements that had been attributed to Alter, that his nomination was unlikely to survive the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.