diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/orm/ClassWriter.java b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/orm/ClassWriter.java
index 136982c8..982e4441 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/orm/ClassWriter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/orm/ClassWriter.java
@@ -1071,6 +1071,10 @@ private void generateHadoopWrite(Map<String, Integer> columnTypes,
   public void generate() throws IOException {
     Map<String, Integer> columnTypes = getColumnTypes();
 
+    if (columnTypes == null) {
+      throw new IOException("No columns to generate for ClassWriter");
+    }
+
     String[] colNames = getColumnNames(columnTypes);
 
     // Translate all the column names into names that are safe to