As Data Scientists, we often train complex algorithms in order to tackle certain business problems and generate value. These algorithms, however, can take a while to train. Sometimes they take a couple of hours, hours which I’m not going to spend just sitting and waiting. But regularly checking whether the training is done, is also not the most efficient way.

Now I started to use Telegram to send me notifications from R and Python to let me know when training is done. Furthermore, I’m also using it for example to send me notifications when pipelines / ETLs fail, which allows me to repair them as soon as they fail.

It’s really easy, so I thought I’ll share my code!

First, after you’ve installed Telegram, search for the BotFather, which is a bot from the app itself. When you text /newbot, and follow the instructions, it will create your first bot and gives you a token. Copy this!

Next step is to find the id to send messages to. Find your bot in Telegram and say something. Then, go to your browser and go to https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/getUpdates, where it should show you your chat id.

Finally install the necessary packages for R [install.packages(‘telegram’)] and / or Python [pip install telegram]. And you’re ready!

For R, use the following function:



send_telegram_message require(telegram)

bot bot$sendMessage(text = text, chat_id = chat_id)

}

