> Traditional Judaism has this really weird (to me, a goy) emphasis on finding loopholes in rules.

As an atheist Jew, it's weird to me as well...

> stay "indoors" on, I think it was, the Shabbat

Can't say I'm familiar with that one. What I'm generally familiar with is that you're not allowed to "work" on Shabbat, and the definition of work is extremely broad. For example, lighting a fire is considered work, turning a light switch on creates a tiny spark between the contacts, that counts as fire, so it's work.

This extends to pretty much every electrical device, so for those who observe Shabbat, using a computer or phone, turning the AC on or off, is all disallowed.

As a result there are many workarounds as you've described, timers, non-Jews (though you can't ask directly! You can say "it's hot in here", but not "Please turn the AC on"), fridges without a light bulb inside, and more.

> they do this with all things, from a young age.

Religious families do, to varying degrees. But I've met plenty of extremely talented programmers and hackers who do not follow any of the Jewish law.

Edit: Just noticed your username, I also want to say I really like your projects on YouTube!