[mumblemumble]

It's not about whether one can or cannot, it's about whether one does or does not.

Also, there's a feedback loop to consider. You can choose to get to know your DBMS, or you can choose to hold it at arm's length. Both can be reasonable options, but only one is going to foster expertise.

I've worked in enough places to see a clear pattern: Companies that use ORM for anything beyond really simple CRUD tend to have creeping performance problems with their database. (And typically also a healthy contingent of team members pushing to solve those problems by doing something drastic like migrating to NoSQL.) Companies that don't use ORM generally don't have the same problems.

For my part, I find micro-ORMs such as Dapper to be the sweet spot. They get the vast majority of the convenience benefit, without encouraging poor housekeeping practices.