There was an earlier request from Brad Meyers for information on what tasks "programmers" spent their time on, and
some useful references were posted.
Recently, I came across the following references for the ratio of testers to developers:
www.worksoft.com/asktheexpert/ pdfs/ratiooftesterstodevelopers.pdf
www.kaner.com/pdfs/pnsqc_ratio_of_testers.pdf
As one of the articles points out, there is range of skill and tasks even within testing. At the low end,
some testing tasks involve just following a script; no programming knowledge is needed. At the high
end are people usually referred to as quality engineers who set up the overall test plan, write the test scripts, etc.
They certainly have to understand the software architecture, and, if a "white box" approach is taken, they
need to read and understand the code.
Ruven Brooks
