If you already know SQL but don't know any Django, then yes. But if you already know all the other Django model functionality and it's just a matter of learning

If you already know SQL but don't know any Django, then yes. But if you already know all the other Django model functionality and it's just a matter of learning the new Subquery syntax, then it's probably easier to do in the ORM. There is definitely a benefit to querying everything the same way if you can, so that way it's easy to grep where different tables are being accessed. Cuts down on bugs, security issues, etc.