HTML is one context. CSS becomes a context switch with a different mental model. JS becomes another. Backend in Python, Java, PHP, etc. becomes another. Access via GraphQL, grpc, REST, etc. is yet another.

SQL just adds one more to the list for that distinct problem domain. If you don't like SQL, that's not something universal to all devs nor due to the context switch. You either don't know SQL as well or just don't like it. That's fine, just not something to apply categorical terms that apply to "developers".

If you can orient your mind to related sets and subsets, all other languages (and especially ORMs) start looking like square pegs for round holes.

(I'm a developer who happens to like SQL's round peg quite a lot.)

Imagine craftspeople complaining they hate using the tool perfectly suited to a particular task. "I'd prefer to use this hammer against the handle of the screwdriver to smooth out this wood, because I hate the context switch to using the planer, and I'm just more comfortable with hammers and screwdrivers."

I happen to like SQL but maybe I've been doing this for too long. Still:

> having data in one place and format, accessed through a single programming model will typically be easier than a separate service with a different language and model, no matter how efficient.

I would need examples of such a system. The closest I know of is... a RDBMS coupled with a decent ORM.