This article provides insight into how computing majors experience the process of doing programming assignments in their first programming course. This grounded theory study sheds light on the various processes and contexts through which students constantly assess their self-efficacy as a programmer. The data consists of a series of four interviews conducted with a purposeful sample of nine computer science majors in a research intensive state university in the United States. Use of the constant comparative method elicited two forms of results. First, we identified six stages of doing a programming assignment. Analysis captures the dimensional variation in students' experiences with programming assignments on a detailed level. We identified a core category resulting from students' reflected emotions in conjunction with self-efficacy assessment. We provide a descriptive model of how computer science majors build their self-efficacy perceptions, reported via four narratives. Our key findings are that some students reflect negative views of their efficacy, even after having a positive programming experience and that in other situations, students having negative programming experiences still have a positive outlook on their efficacy. We consider these findings in light of possible languages and support structures for introductory programming courses. (Contains 1 figure, 3 tables and 2 notes.)