diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/utils/collections/MapBuilder.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/utils/collections/MapBuilder.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2647db3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/main/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/utils/collections/MapBuilder.java
@@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
+/*
+ * QQQ - Low-code Application Framework for Engineers.
+ * Copyright (C) 2021-2023.  Kingsrook, LLC
+ * 651 N Broad St Ste 205 # 6917 | Middletown DE 19709 | United States
+ * contact@kingsrook.com
+ * https://github.com/Kingsrook/
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+ * License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+package com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.utils.collections;
+
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+
+/*******************************************************************************
+ ** Map.of is "great", but annoying because it makes unmodifiable maps, and it
+ ** NPE's on nulls...  So, replace it with this, which returns HashMaps, which
+ ** "don't suck"
+ *******************************************************************************/
+public class MapBuilder
+{
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1,
+      K k2, V v2
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      rs.put(k2, v2);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1,
+      K k2, V v2,
+      K k3, V v3
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      rs.put(k2, v2);
+      rs.put(k3, v3);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1,
+      K k2, V v2,
+      K k3, V v3,
+      K k4, V v4
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      rs.put(k2, v2);
+      rs.put(k3, v3);
+      rs.put(k4, v4);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1,
+      K k2, V v2,
+      K k3, V v3,
+      K k4, V v4,
+      K k5, V v5
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      rs.put(k2, v2);
+      rs.put(k3, v3);
+      rs.put(k4, v4);
+      rs.put(k5, v5);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1,
+      K k2, V v2,
+      K k3, V v3,
+      K k4, V v4,
+      K k5, V v5,
+      K k6, V v6
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      rs.put(k2, v2);
+      rs.put(k3, v3);
+      rs.put(k4, v4);
+      rs.put(k5, v5);
+      rs.put(k6, v6);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1,
+      K k2, V v2,
+      K k3, V v3,
+      K k4, V v4,
+      K k5, V v5,
+      K k6, V v6,
+      K k7, V v7
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      rs.put(k2, v2);
+      rs.put(k3, v3);
+      rs.put(k4, v4);
+      rs.put(k5, v5);
+      rs.put(k6, v6);
+      rs.put(k7, v7);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   public static <K, V> Map<K, V> of(
+      K k1, V v1,
+      K k2, V v2,
+      K k3, V v3,
+      K k4, V v4,
+      K k5, V v5,
+      K k6, V v6,
+      K k7, V v7,
+      K k8, V v8
+   )
+   {
+      Map<K, V> rs = new HashMap<>();
+      rs.put(k1, v1);
+      rs.put(k2, v2);
+      rs.put(k3, v3);
+      rs.put(k4, v4);
+      rs.put(k5, v5);
+      rs.put(k6, v6);
+      rs.put(k7, v7);
+      rs.put(k8, v8);
+      return (rs);
+   }
+
+}
diff --git a/qqq-backend-core/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/utils/collections/MapBuilderTest.java b/qqq-backend-core/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/utils/collections/MapBuilderTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..26284df7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qqq-backend-core/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qqq/backend/core/utils/collections/MapBuilderTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/*
+ * QQQ - Low-code Application Framework for Engineers.
+ * Copyright (C) 2021-2023.  Kingsrook, LLC
+ * 651 N Broad St Ste 205 # 6917 | Middletown DE 19709 | United States
+ * contact@kingsrook.com
+ * https://github.com/Kingsrook/
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+ * License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+package com.kingsrook.qqq.backend.core.utils.collections;
+
+
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+
+
+/*******************************************************************************
+ ** Unit test for MapBuilder
+ *******************************************************************************/
+class MapBuilderTest
+{
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   @Test
+   void testSameAsMapOf()
+   {
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1), MapBuilder.of("1", 1));
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1, "2", 2), MapBuilder.of("1", 1, "2", 2));
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3), MapBuilder.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3));
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4), MapBuilder.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4));
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5), MapBuilder.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5));
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5, "6", 6), MapBuilder.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5, "6", 6));
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5, "6", 6, "7", 7), MapBuilder.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5, "6", 6, "7", 7));
+      assertEquals(Map.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5, "6", 6, "7", 7, "8", 8), MapBuilder.of("1", 1, "2", 2, "3", 3, "4", 4, "5", 5, "6", 6, "7", 7, "8", 8));
+   }
+
+
+   /*******************************************************************************
+    **
+    *******************************************************************************/
+   @Test
+   void testBetterThanMapOf()
+   {
+      ///////////////////////////////
+      // assert this doesn't throw //
+      ///////////////////////////////
+      Map<String, Object> map = MapBuilder.of("1", null);
+
+      // this too, doesn't freaking throw. //
+      ///////////////////////////////////////
+      map.put("2", null);
+   }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file