Google has a lot of projects on the books. They are developing their various platforms with furious tenacity, with major projects — including Google Hotpot, Google Voice, Google Docs, and Gmail — all receiving frequent updates. More importantly, Google has a lot of projects coming down the line. Two of these are of special note: the Google Chrome OS, which will be released by the start of the third quarter this year, and Google+1, a social network that has no scheduled date but which is anticipated for some time in the next 18 months.

Both of these projects enter territory that Google isn’t currently a major player in. While Google has previously shown its success at operating systems, the mobile and desktop worlds are entirely different — and almost completely owned by competitor Microsoft. Additional, Google’s attempts at social networking through its “Google Buzz” and even, to a less degree, Picasa have been nothing butembarrassments. However, the company has plenty of materials to build with, and more importantly, will be acquiring more of its most important resource.

That resource, of course, is its talented collection of engineers and other Google reps. Google has grown to about 24,000 employees, and last year made a major purchase in their massively sized New York office. By the end of 2011, however, you can expect to see Google at over 30,000 employees — and possible a couple thousand beyond that.

The exact figures, hiring schedule, departments, and other finer details have not been revealed, but Google has stated with confidence that their hiring in 2011 will “break company records.” The record was set for Google back in 2007, when approximately 6,000 employees were added. Figures will surpass that number this year, but we won’t know how far past the mark they will go until the hiring figures start to come in.