Times have changed. If you have C# programmers and they can't do it in Entity Framework/LINQ, then they can't do it.
With that said, this still sounds like a strange situation - most colleagues, acquaintances and people I consulted know they way around SQL and dropping down to 'dbset.FromSql($"SELECT {...' is very commonplace out of the need to use sprocs, views or have tighter control over the query.