Hibernate requires that you have an object model to map your schema to. If you're still thinking only in terms of relational schemas and SQL, perhaps Hibernate is not for you.
You have to be willing to accept the SQL that Hibernate will generate for you. If you think you can do better with hand-coded SQL, perhaps Hibernate is not for you.
Another alternative is iBatis. If JDBC is raw SQL, and Hibernate is ORM, iBatis can be thought of as something between the two. It gives you more control over the SQL that's executed.
