> Learn to write SQL directly...[it's] a fundamental thing you'll be doing for your entire career probably
SQL has been called "the eternal language". I can say that across many target development platforms from mainframe, to desktops, to client/server, to web, and across all the languages used on them, SQL has been a common thread through it all (acknowledging they all have had their own idiom). Completely agree any developer is a stronger developer if they are well familiar with the data layer and what's going on down there. Classic question is - if you're going to spend your time learning the peculiarities of an ORM, why not just spend the time invested in learning SQL? The compound interest on your SQL experience will likely be worth more in ten to fifteen years than some platform or language specific ORM. I know there are reasons to learn and use an ORM but speaking in broad terms here. Avoidance of having to learn SQL shouldn't be the sole reason one is biased towards an ORM.
SQL has been called "the eternal language". I can say that across many target development platforms from mainframe, to desktops, to client/server, to web, and across all the languages used on them, SQL has been a common thread through it all (acknowledging they all have had their own idiom). Completely agree any developer is a stronger developer if they are well familiar with the data layer and what's going on down there. Classic question is - if you're going to spend your time learning the peculiarities of an ORM, why not just spend the time invested in learning SQL? The compound interest on your SQL experience will likely be worth more in ten to fifteen years than some platform or language specific ORM. I know there are reasons to learn and use an ORM but speaking in broad terms here. Avoidance of having to learn SQL shouldn't be the sole reason one is biased towards an ORM.