I believe ORMs are great for something notJim mentions in his first sentence: "why not start with one?". You lose some flexibility, you can encounter some bugs

I believe ORMs are great for something notJim mentions in his first sentence: "why not start with one?". You lose some flexibility, you can encounter some bugs. But till you reach this point you do not have to write SQL and (hopefully) gain some development speed, at least if you find an ORM that fits your needs. For some people who do not mess with databases every days this is IMHO great. I sadly do not remember who said it but I liked the idea "machines should be able to generate SQL much faster and more reliable than me". I think if you really hit the limits of an ORM (one of the bigger ones) and are not experienced with databases (and SQL) you reached the point where you should look for someone who is. But if you never do and only need CRUD and some relations you can live a happy life.