Normally, i go by ORM by default. If i know it's a heavy query or the ORM won't optimize it ( eg. lots of relations and creating a n+1 problem), then i do the

Normally, i go by ORM by default. If i know it's a heavy query or the ORM won't optimize it ( eg. lots of relations and creating a n+1 problem), then i do the query myselve. If something is going slow, I try to optimize it. If that means writing SQL, sure. Why not A programmer's toolbox contains multiple tools. Use the right one.