I have to agree. ORMs can be great when an application is just starting, because that's when you're writing the most tedious queries and statements, but beyond that I personally find that ORMs just get in the way.

As soon as I need to write something more complicated than select-by-id I end up reaching straight for SQL. Otherwise I have to learn both the ORM's query API or DSL and have the proper mental model for how it translates to actual SQL.

Or I could just write SQL and be done with it. No mysteries.

Maybe this is just me, but I've never written a join in an ORM that I had the slightest bit of confidence in.